Cob House 10-07-10, Laurel Pool
Well it had been far too long since my previous visit to Cob House so it was long overdue. Laurel was the destination this week. I have only fished it once before, and managed 133lb from the margin so knew the pool was more like Wyatts (lots of bites and smaller fish) rather than Laugherne (with bigger fish). Weather leading up to the day had been roasting and a number of local venues were closing for a few days to give the fish a rest in the heat. But the previous 2 days had seen a little break and even a bit of rain so i was hope full of a good session.
9 people turned up for this one, so we would be well spread around the pool and have plenty of room. After a great sandwich on the way over (although cannot wait for the Cob House cafe to open for a proper breakfast!!) peg 17 stuck to my hand and put me on the back corner of the pool from the car park, with the wind off my back.
Paste has been working well recently all over the complex so that was going to be a big part of my attack today. Bait list was simple with 6 pints of 3 mm pellets, soaked, a couple of pints of paste made with soaked fishery pellets with a bit of flavouring I'm playing with and some 6mm expander's.
The attack for the day wouldn't see me with more than 5-6 metres of pole out, so a line was plumbed up at top 2 plus 2 at the bottom of the near shelf as it flattened out then a line to my left in the margin handily at top 2 plus 2 also, easy day on the cards. Each line had a paste rig and a pellet rig to give me options with all the rigs connected to double 8 slip latex.
On the whistle each line got a full pot of bait and the pellet rig went straight over the out-line. fish were obviously present and a roach first chuck got me off the mark. i knew i would have to put up with silvers for a small while until the carp bullied them out and 3rd chuck a carp duly obliged. 20 minutes in and a glance right saw my margin line colouring up already and as i wasn't totally happy with my out-line as it was too deep with silver intercepting the bait, so i was happy to come inside early doors.
There were carp in the margins but there were silvers too. with the mixed species present i put a big CAD pot on my kit and started banging the feed in. after another 20 minutes of silly bites with the odd carp mixed in i decided to give the paste a go in the margin. this certainly did the job, and the carp sorted themselves out. i didn't need to hit the bites as the shallow water saw the fish bolting off and hooking themselves.
i kept the big pot on but couldn't get enough bait in with the paste hook bait in, so i was throwing it in over the top to keep the fish interested. this pretty much set the tone for the rest of the match. I did have to play about with the feeding to keep bites coming quickly enough and for a while just the paste hook bait was enough to keep em coming.
There were fish coming out all over but i felt i was creeping ahead of most with a decent stamp of carp. last hour soon came around and my one swim I'd used pretty much all day did start to show a few signs of fading and Scotty J started to put the hammer down in his own swim. i kept fish going in the net but a raft of weed all of a sudden appeared (i think the fish had disturbed it from the bank) and started hampering presentation.
On the final i was happy with my performance, I'd caught fish all day as required on this pool and felt I'd beaten most but thought Scott would do me as he'd caught well on a top kit between his nets. I put 136lb on the scales, more than i thought, but Scotty J dropped me into second with 156lb. I'd had a nice day with lots of action but a small fish race isn't the kind of fishing I'll doing week in-week out! I'll be keeping my eye on the Cob Matches waiting for my favourite Laugherne Island to come up.
Hymatic AC - Lodge Pool
A Friday afternoon match this time at the local lodge pool. a small club water in Redditch. I've fished it loads of times when i was part of the club, but since moving to Worcester i haven't re-joined so haven't been for a good while.
The draw bag put me on peg peg 42, one of the end pegs of the islands with plenty of open water in front of me and a very long chuck to the main island. the long chuck was never going to be an option, but wit the proper margin pole out of the bag, a Trabucco Slim Power, i was not going to take any prisoners today. i set up a paste rig for straight in front of me at 9 meters then a pellet margin rig for about 6 meters virtually behind me to left to the corner of the island i was sat on. i also set up a method rod to chuck while the pole lines settled into the open water
The bait table featured lots and lots of pellets, 2mm's then a kilo of GB for the method, a couple of pints of paste and some 6mm hooker pellets. On the whistle each of the pole lines got 2 full pots of pellets and the method was dispatched to the open water. By the time I'd made a spare method feeder i reeled in and re-chucked. by the 5th chuck the tip went round but i bullied a small carp off the hook when it tried to get into a nearside snag. A few more chucks without any action saw the first 1/2 hour fly by. I'd seen a few fish come out on the opposite bank with people chucking tight to the reeds.
With the method quiet i went out to the paste line to see if anything had turned up. first chuck the float disappeared and i was a bit vicious on the strike as i wasn't expecting it. i struck into thin air anyway, but at least there were fish in the swim. Back out again, the float settled and ducked under and lively skimmer was attached. not the expected result but it got me off the mark. the next half hour was spent missing silly skimmer bites with 1 small carp mixed in.
I cupped some more bait into the margin line every 30 minutes and after the first hour i looked over to notice some activity in the swim. i couldn't resist a quick look and after some dips and movements the float slid away and a small (but very mad) carp put my rig into the marginal roots!!! great start.
Back out and this time the 0.20 line direct, orange bazoocarp in the kit and a big heft from me saw the first carp out into open water and in the net. things looked up form this point!! the margin line was producing a steady supply of bites, but from a smaller stamp of carp i can remember being in the pool. but i do remember the club stocking a load of very small carp a few years ago. they hadn't been showing much until recently, and boy do they give up a scrap in the shallow water.
I definitely didn't want to ruin this line as it would be banker later on in the evening, so I'd get a couple of fish off it, top it up with a full cup and have a go on the paste line then vice versa. the plan worked quite nicely and a steady steam of fish came to the net, although the middle part of the match did go a bit iffy and i lost a couple of fish as i was having to give them a big heft away from marginal snags. the smaller carp kept the weight climbing but there were a few of the bigger 5-8lb fish mixed in, especially towards the last hour.
I never felt the paste line gave its true potential with skimmers and only the odd small carp. I'm not sure why and pellet over the top prob would have worked better but i only have 2 kits for the margin pole and the second kit was for the margin. I did shot the paste float properly and tried a pellet on the same line and it did give better bites from the skimmers, but I'm not sure the carp were there properly on that line.
Anyway the clock ticked over and the whistle went at 7pm. I'd caught plenty of fish and lost a few too, but I'd not seen too much other action around the lake. the other end peg on my island has caught plenty too, but i was hope full to do well against him. my main issue was my mate Mark Franklin on peg 7 or 8. he'd caught immediately on the whistle chucking a method tight to the reeds and had caught fish throughout. My 2 nets went 88lb and I'm not sure the peg was worth a lot more than that. i needn't have worried as 59lb the next best weight and a fairly comfortable win was in the bag. as usual the golden peg eluded me, but one day I'll get it!!!!!
i wouldn't mind a couple more kits for that margin pole. it is proper awesome, the kits are mega wide bore and you could put a bungee chord through it and it would be fine. i think its nigh on impossible to break pulling away form a snag, sideways, and is actually stiff for a margin at its full 11m length.
if anyone knows where you can get Trabucco slim power kits from please let me know!!!!!!!!!!!!
Barston Bowl - 26/07/10
I'd seen this match advertised on the various web-sites but didn't book on as it was my birthday same day and i was going to CLA game fair at Ragley hall the same day, but a change of plan and it was Ragley on the Saturday, my name on the Bowl reserve list and my fingers crossed that I'd get on. a text from Nigel Friday evening saw me on the match and i was pretty chuffed with a load of big names down to fish.
Pete Bailey was fishing too and he offered a lift as he's only round the corner from me and he gets the works van - Perfect, as we had a fair amount of gear between us. Draw time time saw me queuing with the biggest names in the sport. I cant think of any other sport where an average Joe can compete equally with ex world champions of his favourite past times - Brilliant!!
The draw bag put me on Peg 118 on the road bank in the first part of the open water from the club house. Pete drew 34 which put him dead centre of the main island on the lake. I was happy with my draw as its where i wanted to be, and Pete was very happy with a peg on the best feature on the lake (although the story doesn't end up a happy one)
1 - 12ft Maver Powerlite feeder system, TD-R 3012, 6lb sensor with a running line feeder set up
2 - 12ft Maver Powerlite feeder system, TD-R 3012, 6lb Sensor with method feeder set up
3 - Middy X-Flex Medium Feeder, Daiwa Capricorn 3500XTC, 6lb sensor with a method feeder set up
4 - Daiwa SR3 12ft waggler, TD-R 2508, 0.18 Maver genesis mainline with a 4AA waggler setup and 16 eyed B911 with a small pellet band.
The plan was to use the 2 powerlites at 30-40 turns and then the middy at long range. I've learnt recently there are gravel patches, with peaks and troughs in the open water at barston so i spent some time with a heavy lead feeling for silty areas and the rougher clearer areas. i was after the clearer patches to get a bed of feed down. I found a nice patch at 85 turns on the long line then a clearer area at 45 turns on the shorter line.
The bait table was quite simple with 2 kg of Super G gold and green with 4 pints of micros mixed in for the feeder lines and 4 pints of 6mm pellets for the waggler line. Hook baits were dead red maggots with 6 and 8mm red boilies.
On the whistle the short line got 10 feeder fulls with the feeder full of dead reds to get anything that swims onto that line, then the long line had a method dispatched with 4 dead reds on the hook. the first hour was going to be spent chucking very regularly. the feeder stayed in the water for 3-4 minutes maximum before it was wound in and sent out fully loaded again. it took 20 minutes for something to happen and the peg to my right has a n early skimmer and F1 before i latched into an F1 of my own on a red boillie.
Pete had 2 early carp tight to the island before I'd finished feeding my short feeder line and as we were sharing today i was a very happy man. Action wasn't amazing for the first hour and 2 F1's and a skimmer was a slow start. those around me had a few more skimmers than me from shorter lines so i tried mine.
it wasn't brilliant and 2 skimmers in half an hour didn't fill me with confidence. Pete's islands line died completely as those on each of the island began chucking and stopped anything getting to the middle of the island to his feeder!! i made an early decision to pretty much bin the short line but i would keep some bait going on it just in case.
Back to the method and dead reads again and some thing was stirring. in 3 chucks i had nice F1's and proper carp of 11lb, a very nice bonus that brought back up with all those around me, then nothing!!
The middle part of the match went by pretty quietly. i was keeping pellets going in regularly on the waggler line and tried it twice but the vicious Barston tow was flying through making it pretty pointless. I did keep the odd F1 and skimmer going into the net mainly on dead reds, with the usual favourite red boillie not producing.
The 4th hour was very quite and even a couple of tries shorter produced very little.
Until the switch went - my long line came alive in the last hour with a red boillie on the hook. i couldn't get the feeder in quick enough and it was wrapping within a minute. i was catching some lovely 2-3lb mirrors and reckoned i put 25-30lb in the net in that last hour before the final whistle ruined my fun!
I knew I'd easily beat those around me and with a £100, 10 man, section up for grabs i was actually quite hope full. Pete's peg was lifeless and i think he only put a few more pole caught skimmers in the net over the rest of the match. The scales came round and my hopes were gone as Tim Bull put 88lb on the scales for the match win. Section aren't paid by default in this match. I put 52lb on the scales to comfortably beat those around me. I didn't make the top 8 as published with 8th having 54lb but I'm pretty sure i was top 15 which i was chuffed with on a 100 plus pegger.
I'd stuck to my plan and even when there were pole fish coming out around me i was confident my plan would work.
Arrow Valley pleasure session.
Another Friday afternoon pleasure session presented itself to me and Pete joined me as he fancied some bream action and fun before his last round of the UK champs.
We decided to fish the same area where i won the recent open from. the plan was to chuck the feeder towards the island again and see what happens.
Well it chucked a 30g method with an extra 10 grams of lead on it fairly comfortably and accurately to within 15 yards of the island (90 turns of the reel). Bait was a 2kg bag of Bait tech Something (i cant remember but its the Voodoo replacement!!!) and 3-4 pints of soaked micros mixed to give me plenty of bait for the session. Hook baits were dead reds and some red boilies of which i've never tried before here.
Pete managed the first chuck and i was expecting 20 minutes of regular chucks to get the fish going. the fish didn't want to play that game, and no more than 2 minutes later his tip went and bream number 1 was on and in the net. i suddenly got my act together and as he was cranking his fish in i sent my feeder out. as i was making a spare feeder up the tip tightened and dropped back - it was going to be one of those days - Bream number 1 for me too.
The next 3hrs was a constant cycle of chuck to the horizon (but accurately) and 2 minutes later the tip either wrapped or dropped back and bream was attached. It was slightly different to the match as some carp showed, 1 for me and 3 for Pete.
We easily put 200lb in the nets between us in an amazing session. we were constantly either chucking or cranking fish. There is another match booked for Arrow Valley on the 13th of September and I'll be putting an advertisement on all the fishing web-sites soon.
Hymatic A.C. - Barston Lakes.
Another session at barston for me on the annual Hymatic A.C. 'All Day' match. A Friday day time match where people take holiday from work to fish normal hours. Historically we've had some different format matches - 2, 4 hours session on one day, on either the same pegs, different pegs on the same lake or even different lakes for each session!! this time we kept it simple with 5 hrs at Barston on Pegs 4-32.
My plan and bait table was exactly the same as the Bowl match and the draw put me on peg 24, virtually opposite my Bowl draw. The only real difference is i didn't have the waggler out as the wind was howling and the tow was putting a proper bend in my rod when it was cast and settled. I also used the Powerlite feeder rod at 13 ft for the long chuck line as it did so well at Arrow Valley.
I went through the same routine and found clearer areas off the silt to fish too using a big bomb. On the whistle the short line was fed and the long line got a fully loaded method feeder. 20 minutes in and 6 chucks the tip went and an F1 got me off the mark. A 6mm red boilie was doing the damage with no need to try the dead reds on this occasion. another 2 F1's in the next couple of chucks kept my interest, then i had a golden spell with two 4lb carp and 10lb lump saw me put 20lb in the net in the first hour.
This was easily my best spell and the middle hours saw me put mainly small skimmers in the net, with only the odd F1. i couldn't get the carp to come back and play ball. I wasn't using a mould to make the feeders as i wanted more feed in the swim to get the carp back. Bites were regular but taking 5-6 minutes to materialise. the weight was ticking over but not massively, but then again i couldn't see anyone else really catching.
Again the last hour saw the light bulb switch on - the fish went mad and i couldn't get the feeder back in quick enough, even though this time it wasn't the nice stamp mirrors but mainly skimmers with the odd F1.
On the whistle i was playing a fish (which is always nice) and the match was over. I'd seen just the odd fish come out form the pegs i could see but end peg 32 had the island to chuck to and i couldn't see him so wasn't sure about the overall result.
As usual i took control of the scales to get things moving. peg 32 put 11lb of silvers on the scales and obviously didn't chuck to the island! I put 53lb for the win with Pete putting 32lb on the scales for second. we were splitting any winnings again so got our money back for our efforts.
That just about gets my match action up to date. As I'm poleless at the moment (getting my number 5 fixed) I've been picking and choosing matches and not been quite so busy. this has allowed to put plenty of preparation in and be totally covered for all eventualities, which is absolutely critical. And I've also enjoyed some time away from the pole and blowing the cob webs off my casting which has been pretty good especially at range. I've also learnt that having the right gear to allow long range work is vital, but you have to be able to use it properly to get the most out of it. Technique counts as much as the gear!!
I'm expecting my section back this week, so i better get rigs and tops kits ready to get back to some pole work.
Just to finish off a couple of reviews
Maver Match Pro 3 Clothing.
As part of Solihull Anglings sponsorship with Maver, the match squad get a set of clothing to wear whilst out and about. This year we have received a set of the new Match Pro 3 gear.
We originally got the Match Pro 1 stuff which for me has lasted really well the 2 years we have had it. the original set consisted of a water proof 3/4 length jacket and trousers, but the match pro 3 has a jacket and Bib n Brace. The original trousers were perfectly fit for the job, but it was much better to be back in a bib and brace and when it gets cold there will be no gaps between jackets and trousers!!
I've used the set a few times now and in a couple of heavy showers and so far I've been totally bone dry. The new set has Mavers own version of Gore-Tex and it certainly is fully waterproof and in the warmer weather has been comfortable to wear without over heating.
So far so very good and I'm looking forward to testing it out when it gets proper cold!
Garbolino Monster Carp Net.
I've had the net for a few months and have to admit it has had limited use. Due to its shear size I've found it difficult to find a situation where it can physically fit into a peg.
When i have used it, i cant fault it. The locking mechanism on the top ring is solid, and the quality of the net means it should last a very long time. it will definitely be coming with me to my matches and when an opportunity exists it will be first choice.
Well that's about it, i hope i haven't bored you!! I'm not sure what is coming up in the next few months but I'm sure I've got a couple of matches at Arrow Valley which I'll keep you posted on.
Tight lines, ScottyP
