Manor farm, 24-01-10

Well unfortunately this isnt going to be the longest of entries as the match was a let down, and i can honestly say it was me not the venue (well mostly me!!!!). No pictures this week neither, as the camera was playing up!
This was only the second match i've fished since my Cob House TA match blow out, and the weeks of snow, ice and no fishing had given me plenty of time to get my hooklength box re-stocked with plenty of G-Point Pellets, B911's and B611's and plenty of rigs tied with freshly made floats! i was raring to go and with the Manor farm winter league finally scheduled to kick off the following Sunday (after 2 cancellations) manor farm was the venue for the day today.
I was really looking forward to the match and met John Watson for breakfast just gone 8am, and with a 9.30 draw we had plenty of time to eat, have a chat and walk round.
John is fishing windmill pool in the winter league so i'd spent a couple of weeks making some extra long pencil floats from 0.5-1g to cope with the deep water, upto 12ft. They have turned out really nicely and will hopefully do the business.
When the draw finally arrived there were 21 and anglers in the book, so Dave split the match with 10 on Island pool and 11 on Windmill. Windmill is a favourite of mine but with Island in it wont compete for the overall match win (although the money was split over the 2 pools)
I somehow managed to get to the front of the queue and peg 36 on island stuck to my hand. This is a great peg, left hand end peg on the bank, with the next guy on my right the other side of a rope, so i had 3/4 of this side of the island to myself. The water was like a mill pond with the Sun shining in the early stages.
I had plenty of time to set up as i only had to move my car 20 yards to get to my peg! i really wanted a pole match today but knew the island was going to produce the bulk if not all of my fish. So i set the following gear up: -
Rods
maver Powerlite feeder system @11ft, TD-R 3012, 6lb Sensor, drennan carp feeder, 0.14 hooklength to 17 B711
Maver powerlite feeder system @ 11ft, TD-R 3012, 0.20 Genesis, small 30g elasticated preston method, 0.18 hooklength to a eyed 18 B911

Pole
1. Light pellet, 0.4 slim pencil 1.5mm tip, 0.15 Ultima Power Silk mainline, 0.10 Power Silk hooklength to 18 G-Point Pellet. Spread bulk with 3 droppers.
2. Positive Pellet, 0.4 Slim pencil 2mm dumpy tip, 0.15 Power Silk mainline, 0.12 Power silk hooklength to an 18 G-Point Pellet. Simple bulk 15" from the hook.
3. Maggot, 0.3g silvers floats 1mm tip, 0.14 Power Silk Mainline, 0.10 hooklength to a 20 B611.

the second rig features a new float i've knocked up for the positive bulk rig i've been playing with on the last couple of sessions. the idea behind it is that a bristle is used to read the droppers as the float settles. but if your using a rig with no droppers and a single bulk, why do you need a long bristle. So i've made these floats with 2 mm tip so i can dot it to a pimple if needed and a very short 25mm long tip. The float settles straight away against the bulk and you can lift and drop the pellet very naturally in the last 12" of water.

These rigs were plumbed to dead depth at 12 and 10 o'clock, 14.5 metres in front of me. The maggot feeder rod was clipped up 3 meters short of a reed bed in front of me and the method clipped tight to some roots 15 yards to the left of the reed bed.
Bait for the day consisted of a pint of 4mm expanders, a pint of softened 4mm feed pellets (Cob House Coppens pellets. i prefer them to Skrettings as they seem to break down quicker) a pint of red and white maggots and 1/2kg of Voodoo for the method.
On the whistle i fed 30-40 expanders on 12 o'clock pole line and 30-40 feed pellets on the 10 o'clock line. and then chucked the maggot feeder.
The first hour went very slowly with only one slight touch on the feeder and with me leaving it in for a good 10 minutes and giving it a couple of twitches. I put another metre on the clip and gave the pole line a try for 10 minutes without even a touch. At this point, out of the anglers i could see 4-5 people had caught, all on the feeder.
Back to the maggot feeder and the closer chuck gave me a wrap straight away and fish number 1 was in the net - Phew!!!! The following casts in the next hour gave a few liners but nothing special, so again another meter of line was taken off the clip and the pole tried again. All the time i'd been on the feeder, the pole lines were topped up using a small CAD pot. 20 minutes on the pole this time still gave no bites so i started to flick a few maggots over the expander line to try and generate some interest.
Back to the feeder and the next 2 chucks resulted in fish and at half way i had 3 fish in the net. By now the guy on the opposite end of my bank had started to catch regularly and was pulling away. John had drawn peg 10 on windmill and i'd seen him get the landing net out quite regularly too.
The rest of the match ran away from me with me swapping between the pole and feeder to try and find some fish or make something happen, but failing miserably. I ended up with 6 fish and i didnt bother the scalesman. I felt very down heartened about the day as it was a great draw and i'm sure the peg was worth a lot more fish!
I dont want to make excuses but i've a had some thoughts on the day.

Match Fitness
This was only my second match in 5-6 weeks and i felt my 'match fitness' was way off the mark. Firstly my decision making was pretty poor, not only by the actual decisions i made but also by the lack of desicions!!!
I had a lot of water to go at in front of me with a good 25 metres of island to explore. In the end i only used the two lines i'd initially clipped up and left a massive portion of it untouched. BAD CHOICE! I also decided to set the pole up as i 'fancied' a few fish on it. BAD CHOICE - this only served to distract me away from the island where the fish actually were!
Also my work rate was prety poor. When i tried the pole i just sat there expecting it to work and go under. I'm sure there were probably a fish or 2 to be had (proven by the guy on the opposite end peg catching 4 fish on his pole line) but i was lazy and didnt play with my rigs to make them work, i couldnt be bothered to ship in and out to keep some bait trickling in so consequently the pole line produced nothing!
By having the 2 methods, feeder and pole, set up i managed to fish 2 methods poorly instead of one method well!
Talking to Steve Ford later on in the evening it turned out the water to the left of the reed bed is deeper than that in front and can hold the fish there. If i'd have had my proper match head on i'd either found the deeper water when i was clipping the rod up with a bomb on or i'd have explored the peg during the match.
John fished a great match and won the Windmill pool with 32lb including a lump of 12lb. He'd kept fish coming most of the match and was happy to catch silvers when the carp werent playing ball! If i fished the match again i'd leave the pole in the bag and concentrate on the island. Instead of plumbing the pole line i'd plumb the island and find where the fish were or would want to be!
Next Sunday is the first round of the winter league and i'm fishing boundary pool. This is a hard pool, especially when cold, but there are pleny of solvers to go at and some massive perch so plenty of bites are on the cards but you need to find some carp to compete for the section. this week has been a wake up call so i'm looking forward to next Sunday get back on top form and put a decent net of fish together!
Tune in next week!

Manor Farm - 03-01-10

Well after a very very lazy christmas break i managed to make it back onto the bank for the first round of the manor farm winter league!
But before that i just thought i'd show you our Christmas Eve celebrations. Pete Bailey came and joined us for a BBQ in the snow!! Even tho it was freezing, the fire pit threw out quite a bit of heat and i was quite happily stood outside in my t-shirt cooking some home made chilli burgers and sausages! lovely!!!

Any way back to the fishing! I say it was the first round of the winter league, but the league fixture was cancelled due to the extreme cold with very poor driving conditions and frozen lakes so an open was held in its place for anyone that fancied braving the conditions.
15 brave (stupid) individuals turned up for some action so Dave (the owner) decided to put 10 on Windmill, the deepest lake on the complex with upto 12ft of water available and the last 5 on middle lake which seemed to have the least amount of ice.
I've always said that Windmill is my favourite pool at manor as its an established pool with lots of features and water to attack but today i actually fancied a draw on middle as its very consistant and we'd have plenty of room with only 5 on it.
Well the bag of dreams looked after me a got peg 3 on middle!

First job of the day was make a peg! i've got a big 10lb lump of stainless steel with just over a metre of chain and 16m of strong rope as my ice breaker and it works really well in all but the thickest of ice and i can throw it the full distance if needed.
my first chuck sailed out beautifully to 14 metres followed by my end of the rope which i'd only dropped over the leg of my box! DOH! luckily I got it back with my landing net and cut a line to the left of my peg and did the same on the right hand side. i then roughly broke the middle up and my fishing hole appeared. the big pieces i pushed under the edges of the ice and small bits were scooped out.
I ended up with 13m of ice free water with easily enough room for 2 lines out about 5 metres apart. it took me about 30 mins and kept me really warm!
TIP OF THE DAY - make sure you have some thick gloves when breaking the ice to keep your hand warm and protect them from rope burns!!!!!
With that sorted i moved onto setting up my gear! the plan was simple with a 2 pronged attack. the first line was going to be a pellet attack, fishing and feeding expanders and the second line was going to be fed with micro's and pinkies.

Rigs, from top to bottom -

1 - Light Pellet - 0.4g slim pencil with 1.5mm tip, 0.15 Ultima Power Silk mainline, with 0.10 Powersilk hooklength to a 20 G-Point Pellet
2 - Heavy Pellet - 0.6g slim pencil with 1.5mm tip, 0.15 Power Silk mainline, with 0.12 Power Silk hooklength to a 18 G-Point Pellet
3 - Pinky Rig - 0.4g Silvers float with 1mm tip, 0.14 Power Silk mainline, with 0.10 Power Silk hooklength to a 20 B611.

All rigs were plumbed just touching bottom at 13m just off the far edge of the ice with the pellet line to the right hand edge and the pinky line to the left hand edge.
The light pellet and pinky rig had a spread bulks with 2 droppers and the heavy pellet featured very positive bulk with no droppers. The pinky and light pellet rig were attached to a doubled 3-4 middy latex and the heavy pellet attached to doubled 6-8 middy latex.
Bait for the day was 1/2 pint of flouro pinkies, 1 pint of soft jellied 4mm expanders and 1 pint of soaked micros. i had some maggots too but lef them in the bag unless i got desperate.
On the whistle i fed 25 expanders on my pellet line and a pinch of micros and about 30 pinkies on my second line and followed it out with my light pellet rig.
the rig settled really nicely with just a pimple of tip showing, for about a second! fish on! this is the first time i've used the 3-4 middy latex and it is really nice, super smooth and stretchy and i never felt like pulling out of the fish, but i will say it was too soft for the restricted amount of room i had between the ice and i had to land it with my short 4 on my match kit. But a 2.5lb F1 was in the net before most had finished potting! Great start.
The same happened 2nd chuck and a small mirror was in the net, but i changed my rig onto another top kit with 6-8 latex in to give me better control between the ice sheets. in open water i would have stayed on the lighter elastic as i wouldnt want to risk pulling out anything as every fish counts in such cold conditions.
BUT THEN, it had been at least an hour since i'd broken the ice and with a slight breeze blowing over my shoulder to the right hand far corner of my ice hole it started freezing over again and within minutes i was struggling to get my rig in properly! i made an early decision start 2 identical lines a section shorter so i could fish easily without any obstruction. I managed 5 fish in 30 minutes from my far line before the ice became too much of a problem. I was now going to leave these far lines completely alone with no more clearing or feed so if i needed too later on i could move back out to 13m and start again if my peg completely died.
Moving shorter was slow as i felt i'd propably split the fish in my peg too much by starting new lines, but i knew my far lines would die off and hopefully the fish would come shorter. Steve Ford opposite me was now catching fairly steadily and had easily caught me up with 90 minutes of the match gone.
My shorter lines got stronger as the far lines died and i put 15 fish in the net in the middle hours and i was happy with my progress. The majority of the fish came from the pellet line with the heavy pellet rig easily giving me the most positive bites even tho i still had the float dotted down to a pimple.
I did have to change the depth regularly to keep bites coming and also move the bulk about from 6"-15" from the hook to alter the drop of the pellet in the final part of the water column. i also found a few fish a couple of inches off the bottom, something i've never really done before in such cold conditions. i kept the peg topped up with 5-10 expanders every fish through a tiny kinder pot and kept changing the top up amounts to keep the fish guessing. i did also manage a couple of fish on double pinky when i felt i needed to rest the pellet line for 10 minutes.
Steve opposite me was also catching and i felt i was falling behind him, but the ice was now becoming a problem on my shorter lines as the re-freeze crept back through my ice hole. Steve on the other hand had the ice forming in his margins so kept his fishing lines clear! Bites had slowed but there were still fish there and i kept dripping bits of bait in and rotating lines. i had to swap lines very regulalry as the fish definately wanted some bait dripping in and by now both my shorter lines were being kept alive with expanders.
With an hour to go i decided to open my long pellet line again and used my cupping kit to clear the cat ice and started the line from fresh fedding as if the whistle had just gone. I gave it 5 minutes to settle and sneaked a fish from my short line. i then managed 5 fish from the long line in 30 minutes but just couldnt keep on top of the ice reforming. it was really frustrating as i knew there were fish there but didnt know what to do to keep the ice clear. If anyone reading this knows of any tips please let me know!!!!!!
So i resigned myself to the last 15 minutes on the shorter line and put 2 final fish in the net. I knew Steve had beaten me and 2 others on our pool had packed up 90 mins before the whistle but the 5th angler had caught quite steadily and had had a couple of lumps during the day too, so i was nervous. The payout was 1 winner with 3 sections so i needed Steve to win the match and beat the other angler on our pool for my section.
I put 52lb on the scales and was pleased as i'd had a nice days fishing. Steve put a brilliant 87lb on the scales, but the 3rd angler was disqualified by Dave. One of his mates had sat on his box after the match and fished on for 15 minutes. This isnt allowed at Manor and although nothing was caught Dave is always consistant and disqaulified the angler. I thought it was probably quite a harsh decision as it was an open and not a team match but i was benefitted as he may have had 60lb and would have possibly beaten me!
Steve comfortably won the match as 28lb won on Windmill which had fished really hard! I ended up second overall and picked up my section money so a good day overall.
Without the ice issues my peg was worth a lot more fish and i felt i could have pushed Steve a lot closer as I got the F1's going very nicely in the middle part of the match. The sun was out all day and i was fishing with just my Hoody over my normal clothes and didnt need my extra fleece or waterproof so i'm still amazed the peg kept re-freezing!
If i fished the match again i'd probably take more time clearing the peg and try and go out as far as possible so the re-freeze would have less of an effect!

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!