Heronbrook Spring League Round 4 10th April 2016.

Hi all.

Fell a bit behind with my write ups so a bit of a catch up is needed.

First match to update on is the 4th round of the Heronbrook spring league.

Once again my team draw was disappointing. Jon on peg 44 on Canal, Alan on peg 4 of Match lake, myself on peg 15 on Meadow and possibly the best of a bad bunch was Neil Pritchard pegged 18 on Bridge.

Jon Green looking relaxed before the start, hopefully he will face the right way when the match starts.

Alan Lamb making final preparations on Match Lake.

One consolation was that my peg offered a long near margin to my right and the corner of the far bank to target.

My home for the match on Meadow and after the rain it was a bit of a mud bath.

 For this match I set up rigs for the far bank, deep water before the far shelf, meat rig for 2+2 and a dobbing rig. Also set up a short bomb rod for casting down to the corner to my left. After fishing on peg 13 the week previous I was not expecting a great deal, but hoping that the long margin would produce some fish. So my target was to at least beat the weight from last week.

I started on bread dobbing along the far bank where I caught an F1, this was followed by a couple of small roach. I then tried pellet along the far bank slightly to the left. A couple more F1's were netted but it was very slow going again. Next was to try bread down the margin at 13 metres were I snared another F1, but again I could get any more. I did also try casting bread on the bomb into the corner were I had seen a couple of fish roll. The only signs from this were the odd line bite.
My last throw of the dice was to try meat at 5 sections. I had fed this with meat and hemp to try and hold some fish in the peg. I did get another 2 F1's on this, but no bigger carp that I hoped for materialised.
My day was done, I weighed 22lb 12oz and only beat one other in the section. Once again some good weights were caught on the lake, I just seem to be sitting in the wrong place on these matches.

Team wise despite being in a poor area Jon managed 5 points for our best score on the day. Neil managed 7 points and unfortunately Alan got 10 points. That gave us another high score of 31 points leaving us still rooted to the bottom of the league. With 2 matches left we are desperate not to finish bottom. On to the next round.
Tight lines.

Heronbrook Spring League Round 3 Sun 3rd April 2016.

Hi all.

The third round of the spring league today. For a change there was no match the day before so everyone was raring to go.

Team stayed the same from the previous round and our draw gave Jon on Canal peg 11, Neil Pritchard Bridge 13, myself peg 13 on Meadow and I did Alan no favours by drawing him the same peg as the previous round on peg 3 on the Match lake.

Both mine and Neil's peg were a bit of an unknown, Jons peg had fish moving the stick ups on the far bank when he got there, so that looked good. Hopefully Alan would have better luck with the bigger fish on peg 3.

I have not fished this area of Meadow before and from peg 2 round to 12 more or less every peg was in. Before the start it looked like pole alley or the 110 metres hurdles along the bank Peg 14 to my right was empty and I was told that in the last match the angler on my peg caught best towards the right in the deeper water. The peg itself did not have many features just the odd small clump of spiky grass on the far bank. Plumbing up did show that the peg was deeper as you moved along the bank to the right. With this in mind I set up 2 rigs for fishing across, one for the shallower water directly in front and another for fishing in front of a clump of grass to the right at 14.5 metres. The other rigs covered the maggot track line, a rig for the deep water just before the far shelf and a dobbing rig.

As I felt I needed to make some sort of positive move in an attempt to improve my weight and section position I had decided to bring some cubes of meat with me and feed smaller pieces mixed in with a bit of groundbait. I would fish this along the far bank in front of me as I felt that the deeper water line might be more productive. So I did not use meat here in case it ruining the peg. I also had with me maggots pellets and corn.

I began fishing the match with meat, hoping to catch an early carp, but after a couple of small fish knocks and no positive bites I started fishing pellet in the swim to the right. This was not very productive and needless to say the entire match was a struggle. I tried different lines and different areas of the peg but only ended up with 2 stamp F1's  and a small carp, together with some small roach caught on either maggot or bread. I only weighed 8lb 1oz and knew I was last in the section. Such a disappointing match and a few others around me struggled as well. The better pegs like 16, 21 and 24 all weighed over 100lb and I would have needed over 50lb to get half way in the section, so I was a million miles away. As a footnote several good carp were caught on meat fishing short (2+2) from pegs 4 and 5 behind me, so at least I could try that in future.

Team wise we got it half right with Jon and Neil scoring 4 and 5 points and Alan had a struggle again on Match lake scoring 9 points. That gave us a total of 28 points and still leaves Team POHAS near the bottom of the league.

There are 3 matches left now and I can only hope that in those matches we get the right pegs on the right day and we enjoy some good weights. That will be some consolation for the time and effort the team have put in over the last 6 months.

Club matches with POHAS start again in earnest with the Spring League kicking off at Lloyds Meadow in Delamere Forest. Due to the increase in members wishing to fish matches and the pegs available there is simply not enough to go around so I will have to miss this one. I may fish the open at Partridge on Saturday then onto Heronbrook the following day for the 4th round of the Spring League.

Hopefully there is more good fishing to be had, and I will have to remember to take a few pictures to brighten up my messages.

Tight lines.  

Heronbrook Spring League Round 2. Sun 21st Mar 2016.

Hi all.

The second round of the spring league arrived the day after the Dogs Bollocks match. Several of Team POHAS and some from Poplars AC celebrated our win a little bit too much in the Hoop and Mallet Pub the night before so I was a little late getting up to be picked up. Phone call to transport co-ordinator Jon Green revealed him in a worse state than me and just getting out of bed. We hastily got our gear together and made our way down the M6. We arrived a little after 8am so not too late to be fair.

My team draw gave us Jon Green on peg 2 Canal, Bridge 33 for Neil Pritchard, I got peg 24 on Meadow and Alan had peg 3 on Match Lake. My peg had produced over 100lb the week previous and all the other pegs were a bit hit or miss.

When I got to my peg the wind was blowing into the corner of pegs 26 and 27 were I had been on the previous match, so I was hoping that the wind had not moved all the fish into that area.
The angler who fished 24 the week before had caught most of his fish against the far bank either side of the shallow gap directly in front. For the pole I set up a 4x12 rig for pellet/corn for the far bank, a 4x14 pellet/corn rig for the deep water just before it shelves up at 11.5 metres, a 4x14 maggot rig for 6 sections in the middle and a bread dobbing rig for anywhere along the far bank. Due to the gap between pegs I also set up a short bomb rod again for fishing bread. Hopefully I would not need it.

I started the match on bread against the far bank 6 inches off bottom to the right of the gap. I did not get any carp or F1's only a few small roach. So I began fishing on pellet on the far bank to the left. I caught a couple of F1;s here but it was slow going compared to the previous week. That is how the rest of the match went. I caught F1's and carp including 2 good doubles fishing either on the far bank or at 11.5 metres. Following the recent pattern the maggot line was again rubbish. I ended the match with only 12 fish and lost 6. I weighed 53lb 5oz, so the fish were a good size and I could have possibly weighed over 70lb if I had not lost so many. That's how it goes, they don't all stick. That weight gave me 6 section points, so was a little disappointing. My 10 peg section was won with 87lb from peg 21. In general the fishing was not as good as the previous match and the weights were down a bit. Still not bad fishing for the end of March.

Team wise Jon got 6 points, Neil had 9 and Alan got 6. So there is a little consistency there and Alan was unlucky in his section loosing several big fish that would have pushed him right up there. Our points total of 27 is a slight improvement but we still sit near the bottom of the league.

The next round takes place after Easter, so a little break from team fishing for now.

Tight lines.

Dogs Bollocks Team Match Sat 20th Mar 2016.

Hi all.

This match has been running now for 3 years involving 4 local clubs fishing a team of 12 at Partridge Lakes. The match is run as a friendly get together with the bonus of the winning team having the bragging rights for the next 12 months. The match was split over Covey 6, Marsh and Spey Canals. My team draw gave me peg 137 on Covey 6, which was end peg in the 4 man section but also included 133, the peg I was second off the week before, so could be a tricky match.

I set up the usual rigs for Partridge as described before and started fishing on maggot in 3 ft of water slightly to the left. I lost a fish early on and after no more bites I moved onto dobbing bread against the far bank grasses. I caught 2 fish here but had to wait for bites. I tried fishing pellet on the far bank but again no bites. So I went back to fishing in 3 ft with maggot. At one point I managed a run of 5 fish one after another but in general the pattern was to try different areas of the peg and hope to get bites. Again as of recent matches the maggot line down the middle was slow.

I ended the match with 15 F1's and small carp with a few small chub for 22lb 4oz. This was second in my 4 peg section and third in the split section, so was pleased to get a bit of money back. The results from Covey 6 were a bit mixed for POHAS and it looked as though Marketgate had done well. Back at the cabin we awaited the results and no one was sure who had won. Eventually the results were read out in reverse order and POHAS are the Dogs Bollocks for 2016 with a score of 26 points 5 ahead of Marketgate on 31. To average just over 2 points per man is a great result. To cap it off Alan Lamb won the match outright with 77lb off Spey 3, catching most of his fish dobbing bread and in the margin. Full result can be found on the following link:

http://www.pohas.co.uk/news.html

Well done to everyone in the POHAS team, all the other anglers taking part and Paul at POHAS for organising the event. Due to the popularity next year will include another match in the same format but in July so hopefully the weights will be much better and plenty of bites for all.

Tight lines.

Heronbrook Spring League Round 1. 13 March 2016.

Hi all.

Update from the start of the spring league at Heronbrook.

Team POHAS really looking forward to this again. This year the league is bigger with 30 teams entered so should be a great competition. Also the league has started a little later this year and the matches will be 6 hours, so with the weather hopefully warming all the time there is the chance of some big weights in these matches.

Team for the first round was myself, Alan Lamb, Jon Green and Neil Pritchard and this year we kept to the same lakes as previous. Me on Meadow, Alan on Match, Jon on Canal and Neil on Bridge/Island. Once again I had to do the draw which again was a bit mixed. I got 26 on Meadow, Alan on 46, Jon on peg 4 and Neil was on peg 1 on Island.

My peg is on one of the noted points giving you a wide corner to fish into. These pegs can throw up some big weights in the right conditions, only snag is that in some cases you need to fish a pole up to 18-20 metres long. Not something I can do and nor will I buy the extensions needed, especially as they would hardly get used anyway. Apart from the widest parts of the peg I could reach the far bank and some clump of reeds and grasses with the full 16 metres of pole.

The fishing follows a similar theme to Partridge in that you can catch down the middle and by fishing across to the far bank. The big difference is that Heronbrook is also stocked with plenty of big carp as well as F1's so you need to step up your tackle compared to Partridge. For this match I set up a rig for 6 sections to fish with maggots, one rig for fishing across with pellet and corn and a dobbing rig set 6 inches off deck. Due to the peg width I also set up a 9ft 6ins bomb rod to fish either a small hybrid feeder or bomb with bread.

I started the match on the hybrid feeder with micro's and a Ringers wafter on the hook cast into the widest part of the peg. After a couple of knocks I got a small carp around 4lb, a nice start but the angler on peg 24 was already catching well. No more bites on the wafter so swapped to fish 2 10
mm discs of bread on the bomb. Caught 2 F1's on this and then went on to the pole again trying bread. I caught a couple of roach and a decent carp on this fishing to the far bank at a 90 degree angle from my peg to the left back towards peg 25. Again after these couple of fish, I could not get anymore on bread despite trying different parts of the peg.

After this I moved to fishing at 16 metres against the clump of rushes and grasses I could reach along the far bank with pellet and corn. I caught a few F1's and carp including another good fish which led me a merry dance as it swam back down the arm towards peg 24. In general the wind was not too bad but it was not the easiest fishing using 16 metres for a long periods of time. The fish I caught were good but there were long periods without any bites so I was never really getting ahead. The maggot line down the middle was poor with just a few roach. The angler on peg 24 had caught regularly all day and was on for a good weight, and the angler next to me on 27 had caught steadily but had smaller fish than me so it would be close between us.

At the end of the match I weighed 55lb 7oz which is a nice weight to get. The angler on 24 weighed just short of 140lb and peg 27 weighed 50lb, so managed to beat next peg. My weight gave me 7 section points which is a bit of a disappointing start. Team wise we scored a total of 30 points with Alan Lamb our best performer with 5 points off the Match Lake. Our score left us close to the bottom of the league so again not our best start. The fishery produced some great weights with 10 ton plus catches recorded that day, so if you are on the fish an enjoyable day should be had.
Hopefully as the league continues and the weather improves so will our catches and points.

Next matches will be the inter club Dogs Bollocks match at Partridge and the second round of the spring league the following day.

Tight Lines.

Dogs Bollock Practice Match Partridge Lakes 12 Mar 2016.

Hi all.

As part of the preparations to fish the inter club Dogs Bollocks match POHAS had organised a practice match on Covey 6 at Partridge Lakes. A total of 32 anglers turned up including 5 from Poplars AC. So the lake was pretty full but the weather had warmed up so hoping for a decent day.

I drew myself peg 133 which in general is a good peg and has done well in previous matches we have fished on Covey 6.

I set up the usual rigs for Partridge, 4x14 maggot rig for down the middle, 3ft 4x12 rig for across, a 4x12 pellet rig for fishing close to the far bank grasses and a bread dobbing rig.

The peg has plenty of room and an aerator to the right so plenty of options. I started on bread and caught 2 quick fish, a small carp and an F1. Following this I tried the pellet line and only caught a very small F1 and the maggot fishing in 3ft only gave me a couple of small roach. Not going according to plan.

Therefore I ended up back on bread, first fishing across again and then next to the aerator with the float set at 2.5ft deep. To be honest I caught F1's and small carp pretty frequently from here using a 7mm punch. Most bites came quickly after the rig had settled and some bites after lifting the rig slightly or re-laying the rig in. I tried down the middle on maggot in the last hour and managed to loose an F1. In the end I managed 26 fish for 43lb 12oz to finish second in the match and 2oz's from winning, so that was a costly lost fish on the maggot.

In general the fishing was not as good as I expected, quite a few struggled and many did not bother to win in.

Here's hoping I get another peg like that one next week.

Tight lines.

Heronbrook Open Sunday 6th March 2016

Hi all.

Once again Team POHAS had entered a team into the Heronbrook Spring league, so a cheeky practice trip was in order. Luckily several other team members made the trip as well so would be good to compare notes afterwards.

My draw put me on peg 24 on Bridge Pool which is a pool I have not fished before. From last years league this lake was a bit hit and miss. In the year since the previous spring there have been some changes at Heronbrook to the pegging of some lakes and especially to Island pool. My peg was in the middle of a straight at behind the end of Island Pool. I was told after the draw that this was a good area, so hopefully the locals were right.

The peg is roughly 14 metres wide with grasses and rushes along the far bank as well as a tree with branches extending into the water slightly to the right of the peg. With a gap of 2 pegs either side there were plenty of options and must admit it looked good for a few fish.

As Heronbrook is more of a mixed fishery with the chance of catching Carp, Barbel F1's and silvers the rigs have to take all this into account. Based on this I had already re-tied the rigs I use with heavier line and made up some more hooklengths. Due to the room allowed I also set up a short tip rod for trying popped up bread down towards the corner pegs to my left which were empty. Pole rigs would to cover fishing close to the tree and the far bank with pellet or corn, a bread dobbing rig and maggot rig for down the track. Plumbing up revealed a nice flat spot by the tree just under 4ft. Across to the far bank was a little shallower at 3ft, so 1 rig (4x12 Malman Benny)could cover that. Bread dobbing rig was set 6 inches shallower than the far bank swim using a 4x12 Garbolino DC12H. The maggot rig was a 4x14 Chianti for fishing at 6 sections which was just over 5ft deep.

I was a bit late starting the match so I hastily cast out 2 10mm discs of bread down the corner whilst seeing how the others around me were doing. On the second cast I got a bite and landed a Common Carp about 3lb. By this time the angler to my right had started catching a few by fishing across with pellet. After one more cast on the bread I switched to the pole with bread using a 7mm punch against the far bank grasses. First fish was a roach and then a nice Mirror Carp about 7lb (see picture)

Not a bad start. I only managed another F1 on bread so I moved to the swim close to the tree. I started with a 4mm pellet on the hook feeding a few micro's and 2 pieces of corn. Thinking that the corn might hold some bigger fish in the peg. After a few seconds I caught an F1 and after that bites were very frequent. I kept the feeding the same making sure the feed and rig were put in the same place and carried on catching F1's and small carp quite regularly. I did switch to corn pretty early on as I was hoping to catch a larger stamp of fish and hopefully a few more bigger carp. This sort of worked as the F1's started to get bigger, but the biggest carp I could manage was around 3-4lb. Then with about 2 hours of the match this line completely died, from getting bites pretty quickly I was left scratching my head. I tried the same tactic at 14 metres which brought a couple more fish, but again it took a while to get a bite. Into the last hour I tried the maggot line. Similar to Tunnel Barn the first few fish were roach and perch and after feeding a kinder pot of maggots each cast I caught 3 F1's on the bounce and thought here we go, but again this line seemed to die off, with only another F1 added. So the last 2 hours petered out a bit. Meanwhile I must admit the anglers either side of me never really stopped catching. I ended the match with 36 F1's and Carp with a few silvers for 68lb 14oz. The guy to my right weighed 105lb and the angler to the left caught 141lb. So a good match and a good battering as well!!! Have to say it was an enjoyable day despite ending up quite far behind those around me. Looking at the website I have won the section, which must be by triple default. Only hope they have kept the envelope for me??????

The others had mixed days. Lee Clarke finished with 54lb off peg 30 on Bridge. Jon Green managed a low double figure weight form peg 27 on Meadow, and unfortunately Neil Pritchard blanked on peg 2 on the Match Lake.

After the match we were impressed by the weights off Bridge Pool, Island was a bit of a struggle for most and Meadow and Match Lake were mixed. Hopefully the weather will get warmer as the league continues and the fishing should only get better. So here's hoping the team enjoy some good days with good catches for everyone.

Got another double header on the weekend coming with a light hearted practice match for the inter club Dogs Bollocks match on Covey 6 on Partridge Lakes. Followed by the first match on the Heronbrook Spring league on Sunday. Will be tired, but can't wait.

Tight lines.