Hi all.
The 3rd round of the winter league was greeted with the same weather as in previous rounds. Persistent rain for the duration of the match and a strengthening wind to boot.
Team for the day was myself, Alan Lamb, Phil Clare and Rob Healey stepping in for Jon Green.
Once again it was down to me to do the team draw which gave us Alan on peg 18 Covey 1, myself on peg 48 Covey 2, Phil Clare peg 73, Covey 3 and Rob on peg 85 on Covey 4. Again we felt we could have done a lot worse, 2 pegs on spits and 85 being in usually good area. The only drawback was 18 which we were not sure how that would go as better weights have come from other pegs in that section.
For my match the peg was towards the end of the spit on Covey 2 and with 49 not being pegged I had plenty of room. I set the usual suspects rig wise, bread, 2ft maggot/pellet, 3ft maggot/pellet and a maggot rig for down the track.
I started on bread and only caught 2 small Rudd so moved onto the 3ft line feeding a few mirco's with either a 2mm or 4mm expander on the hook. It was very slow going and after nearly 2 hours I only had 2 small F1's to add to the Rudd. I could also see anglers catching so I was falling behind very quickly. I could only get bites on the 3ft line and had to keep moving swims towards the left hand side of the peg to get bites. If I tried the right hand side I got no bites. For a change I also managed to catch some fish on pellet. Once the bites went iffy changing to maggot over a few micros brought some bite back again.
It was also clear that the fish had moved to the left, as the angler on peg 46 was catching quite regular and he did say after the match that the fish had moved away from him as well. I kept plugging away catching a couple of fish from each and then moving to another area. The deep maggot line only gave up 2 fish and with out consistent bites I ended up back on the 3ft line until the end of the match. I finished with 13 F1's and the 2 Rudd for a level 20lb. The angler on 46 weighed 26lb, must admit I thought he caught more than that. So bit disappointed not to have got closer.
Unfortunately for me there were not a lot of fish in my area, as they had shoaled up nearer to the bridge and pegs 24-25. Usually the pegs on the spits hold the fish in the colder weather as they provide some shelter out of any direct wind, but not so much on this occasion.
So that was that and back to the clubhouse to see how everyone had got on.
I only managed to beat 2 others in my section so scored 8 points. Alan weighed over 15lb and got the same points as me. Phil was unlucky to only get 13lb and score 10 points. Rob Healey was our star of the show weighing in over 30lb and scoring 5 section points. This gave us a 31 point total, which still leaves us last in the league and 2 points behind the next team. For some sort of consolation there were a few teams that scored high points, proving it was a tough match for everyone.
So at least for 2015 that's pretty much it, the next match in the league will be on the 2nd Jan and to be honest I am not sure yet what fishing to do over the Christmas break. I might squeeze in a mid week match at Partridge between Christmas and New Year but will see how the weather goes.
Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read my ramblings and I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and tight lines for the New Year.
Best Regards, Neil.
Monday, 14 December 2015
Friday, 11 December 2015
POHAS Fur and Feather Partridge Lakes.
Hello again.
Fished the POHAS annual Christmas Fur and Feather match last week at Partridge Lakes. This time we were booked on Covey 6. Another good turn out with 27 anglers fishing. I drew peg 170 in the middle of the spit accessed by the footbridge, not a bad draw. It was a windy day but the rain held off and it was possible to fish to the far bank as the wind was mainly blowing into me rather than from the side. So manageable conditions.
I set up the usual rigs as described before, but this time the 2 foot line was a little bit away from the far bank rushes. I fished bread again close to the far bank, occasionally the wind would blow the rig about a bit, but managed a couple of small chub and lost 2 F1's. Went on the pellet line at 2 foot and caught a few fish regularly. This has been the first time I have caught on pellets for a while, so it was good to know it still worked. Maybe more to do with the higher than normal temperatures lately. As expected this went a bit iffy but I had caught F1's and small carp so could not complain.
Next moved onto the 3 foot deep swim fished at 11.5 metres to the right. I stared on pellet feeding a few micros via a small pot and once again started to catch, but this slowed down quicker than before. I switched to double red maggot, still feeding micro's and started to catch again. I could not see a great deal of what was going on around the lake, but it all seemed to going well. Must admit the wind was making it difficult for some.
As per normal I had been feeding a maggot line in the deepest water, so in the last hour and half I concentrated on fishing there. Again it was steady but not on fire. I mainly got bites after feeding a few maggots. If I went a while without a bite, just feed 6 more and a bite would come quite quickly. I think I ended up with around 25-30 fish in total and weighed 33lb 12oz which was good enough to win the match, so very pleased with that.
After the match we all descended on the Stonemill Pub for our annual Christmas carvery and later onto the Hoop and Mallet for a few more drinks.
Next match is the third round of the Partridge Lakes Winter League which we are hoping to have a better result than previous.
Tight lines.
Fished the POHAS annual Christmas Fur and Feather match last week at Partridge Lakes. This time we were booked on Covey 6. Another good turn out with 27 anglers fishing. I drew peg 170 in the middle of the spit accessed by the footbridge, not a bad draw. It was a windy day but the rain held off and it was possible to fish to the far bank as the wind was mainly blowing into me rather than from the side. So manageable conditions.
I set up the usual rigs as described before, but this time the 2 foot line was a little bit away from the far bank rushes. I fished bread again close to the far bank, occasionally the wind would blow the rig about a bit, but managed a couple of small chub and lost 2 F1's. Went on the pellet line at 2 foot and caught a few fish regularly. This has been the first time I have caught on pellets for a while, so it was good to know it still worked. Maybe more to do with the higher than normal temperatures lately. As expected this went a bit iffy but I had caught F1's and small carp so could not complain.
Next moved onto the 3 foot deep swim fished at 11.5 metres to the right. I stared on pellet feeding a few micros via a small pot and once again started to catch, but this slowed down quicker than before. I switched to double red maggot, still feeding micro's and started to catch again. I could not see a great deal of what was going on around the lake, but it all seemed to going well. Must admit the wind was making it difficult for some.
As per normal I had been feeding a maggot line in the deepest water, so in the last hour and half I concentrated on fishing there. Again it was steady but not on fire. I mainly got bites after feeding a few maggots. If I went a while without a bite, just feed 6 more and a bite would come quite quickly. I think I ended up with around 25-30 fish in total and weighed 33lb 12oz which was good enough to win the match, so very pleased with that.
After the match we all descended on the Stonemill Pub for our annual Christmas carvery and later onto the Hoop and Mallet for a few more drinks.
Next match is the third round of the Partridge Lakes Winter League which we are hoping to have a better result than previous.
Tight lines.
Sunday, 29 November 2015
2nd Round Partridge Lakes Winter league. 28 Nov 2015
Hello all.
Following the disappointing 1st round I decided to keep the team the same for the second round.
There seems to be a pattern developing regarding the weather for these matches in that it has been not great at all, the wind was not very strong but the rain fell for most of the match. Making it a bit cold and uncomfortable.
Anyway the team of myself, Jon Green, Alan Lamb and Phil Clare lined up in our new club provided clothing for the match. Golden arm Alan would not do the draw so it was left up to me to sort out everyone's fate.
Jon got peg 21 on Covey 1, Phil on peg 42 on Covey 2, myself was on peg 64, Covey 3 and Alan was left on peg 87 on Covey 4. We were happier with this draw. Jon had the spit to himself, Phil's peg had framed earlier in the week, my peg was probably the worst on paper, and Alan's was expected to do well in an area of pegs known for bigger fish. So we left for our pegs more optimistic than before.
My match went as follows: I set up the same rigs as described in previous matches and started dobbing bread across. No bites on this so tried bread again in the 3ft deep area. After missing a couple of iffy bites I connected with a fish that took the bait on the drop, this turned out to be a good fish a nice common about 6-8lb. This helped me to at least catch up with those around me, as they had all caught a few F1's during the first hour. After this I continued with bread for a bit longer adding a couple more F1 's. Next went on maggot again in the 3ft area. Again a couple more fish but nothing steady or consistent, I was now definitely behind those around me. As usual with about an hour to go I started fishing the track line with double maggot. After a worrying 5 minutes I finally got a bite and after this it was a bit more productive. It was noticeable that I would get bites either just as float settled or after a small lift. In the end I only managed 12 fish for 24lb and unfortunately only beat 2 others in my section of 10. The section was won with over 40lbs. I need to catch more fish in the early stages of the match as I believe these make the difference at the end, going long periods without catching is no good at all. Something to work on for further matches.
Back at the cabin for the results and as in the previous round we had struggled again. Jon weighed 19lb, Phil had 21lb and Alan had real grueller with only 4 fish in the first hours of the match managed to catch a few down the middle to get 15lb. We all scored 8 section points giving us a total of 32 points. Consistent scoring, but only a slight improvement on the first round. Once the results were totaled up we were obviously last but only 1 point behind 9th place, and not a million miles away from 8th so with have got a target to aim for in the next rounds.
Once again the match left us disappointed with more questions than answers. I don't believe it is the fault of anyone fishing not knowing what to do, just that you can only catch what is in front of you and as winter sets in getting a peg with a lot of fish in is proving difficult. I have no doubt that when we have pegs with a good number of fish in we will catch well and score good points. Just need 4 good draws then...
My next match is the annual fur and feather with POHAS again at Partridge on Covey 6. This is followed by a carvery and a few beers until late, so I think Sunday will be a day off.
As I write this on the Sunday night the day after the Partridge match I can be thankful we did not fish today as gale force winds have more than likely resulted in broken pole sections. Needless to say I did not bother fishing the Mersey today. So once again the pole and the rest of my gear is drying out ready for the next match.
Tight lines.
Following the disappointing 1st round I decided to keep the team the same for the second round.
There seems to be a pattern developing regarding the weather for these matches in that it has been not great at all, the wind was not very strong but the rain fell for most of the match. Making it a bit cold and uncomfortable.
Anyway the team of myself, Jon Green, Alan Lamb and Phil Clare lined up in our new club provided clothing for the match. Golden arm Alan would not do the draw so it was left up to me to sort out everyone's fate.
Jon got peg 21 on Covey 1, Phil on peg 42 on Covey 2, myself was on peg 64, Covey 3 and Alan was left on peg 87 on Covey 4. We were happier with this draw. Jon had the spit to himself, Phil's peg had framed earlier in the week, my peg was probably the worst on paper, and Alan's was expected to do well in an area of pegs known for bigger fish. So we left for our pegs more optimistic than before.
My match went as follows: I set up the same rigs as described in previous matches and started dobbing bread across. No bites on this so tried bread again in the 3ft deep area. After missing a couple of iffy bites I connected with a fish that took the bait on the drop, this turned out to be a good fish a nice common about 6-8lb. This helped me to at least catch up with those around me, as they had all caught a few F1's during the first hour. After this I continued with bread for a bit longer adding a couple more F1 's. Next went on maggot again in the 3ft area. Again a couple more fish but nothing steady or consistent, I was now definitely behind those around me. As usual with about an hour to go I started fishing the track line with double maggot. After a worrying 5 minutes I finally got a bite and after this it was a bit more productive. It was noticeable that I would get bites either just as float settled or after a small lift. In the end I only managed 12 fish for 24lb and unfortunately only beat 2 others in my section of 10. The section was won with over 40lbs. I need to catch more fish in the early stages of the match as I believe these make the difference at the end, going long periods without catching is no good at all. Something to work on for further matches.
Back at the cabin for the results and as in the previous round we had struggled again. Jon weighed 19lb, Phil had 21lb and Alan had real grueller with only 4 fish in the first hours of the match managed to catch a few down the middle to get 15lb. We all scored 8 section points giving us a total of 32 points. Consistent scoring, but only a slight improvement on the first round. Once the results were totaled up we were obviously last but only 1 point behind 9th place, and not a million miles away from 8th so with have got a target to aim for in the next rounds.
Once again the match left us disappointed with more questions than answers. I don't believe it is the fault of anyone fishing not knowing what to do, just that you can only catch what is in front of you and as winter sets in getting a peg with a lot of fish in is proving difficult. I have no doubt that when we have pegs with a good number of fish in we will catch well and score good points. Just need 4 good draws then...
My next match is the annual fur and feather with POHAS again at Partridge on Covey 6. This is followed by a carvery and a few beers until late, so I think Sunday will be a day off.
As I write this on the Sunday night the day after the Partridge match I can be thankful we did not fish today as gale force winds have more than likely resulted in broken pole sections. Needless to say I did not bother fishing the Mersey today. So once again the pole and the rest of my gear is drying out ready for the next match.
Tight lines.
Sunday, 22 November 2015
Partridge Lakes Open 22 Nov 2015
Hi all.
Fished the open today at Partridge in order to keep in touch with venue for Winter League. Earlier in the week I was beginning to have second thoughts as cold air was due to spread South across the country from Friday on wards with a strong wind to back it up. Not pleasant conditions to say the least. Come Sunday it was still cold at 5 deg C max but the wind had more or less gone.
I drew peg 27 on Covey 2. I have not fished this peg or area before so was a little unsure what to expect. The peg is 11-12 metres wide with rushes and grasses either side of the far bank mud-line gap. I set up the usual rigs as before. There were some fish topping in the area so I thought might get some at least. Planned to start on bread across to the grasses and go from there. Fished the far bank with the rig about 4 inches off the bottom for about an hour, but had no bites. Due to the cold temperatures and the weights from the previous days match being a lot lower than late I also tried bread at 10 metres in 3ft of water straight in front of me. Without feeding anything this would tell me if any fish were there or not. If I had fed this swim I might have spooked them off before getting a chance to catch them. After a couple of minutes I caught my first F1, and followed it by getting 3 more from the same swim. I moved the rig about a metre to the right and caught 2 fish again. I carried on doing this moving along the same depth of water left and right and picking up what fish I could. I never fed any bait on this line, just dropping the bread in to see if anything was there. In most cases I did not wait long for bites, so if no bites came after a few minutes I would change swims. I managed 11 fish using this tactic. I could not see anyone else around me catching much so I was pleased with the progress.
With an hour to go I started on the maggot line at 5 metres in the deepest water. I had been potting in around 20-30 maggots every 20-30 minutes or so since the start of the match. I fished double white maggot on a 18 808 hook. Again after a couple of minutes I caught another F1. I caught regularly from this swim until the end of the match, just feeding 6 maggots around the float after each fish. I was glad I caught on this line as I was worried that I might have killed it by feeding to much and spooking the fish, but I got away with it.
I ended the match with 18 fish, all F1's up to 3lb for 30lb 3oz and a section win. The next best weight from my section was 13lb so I was pleased with that result.
Next match is the second round of the Partridge Lakes Winter League, and if the rain stays off this week I might manage a trip to the River Mersey on the following day.
Tight Lines.
Fished the open today at Partridge in order to keep in touch with venue for Winter League. Earlier in the week I was beginning to have second thoughts as cold air was due to spread South across the country from Friday on wards with a strong wind to back it up. Not pleasant conditions to say the least. Come Sunday it was still cold at 5 deg C max but the wind had more or less gone.
I drew peg 27 on Covey 2. I have not fished this peg or area before so was a little unsure what to expect. The peg is 11-12 metres wide with rushes and grasses either side of the far bank mud-line gap. I set up the usual rigs as before. There were some fish topping in the area so I thought might get some at least. Planned to start on bread across to the grasses and go from there. Fished the far bank with the rig about 4 inches off the bottom for about an hour, but had no bites. Due to the cold temperatures and the weights from the previous days match being a lot lower than late I also tried bread at 10 metres in 3ft of water straight in front of me. Without feeding anything this would tell me if any fish were there or not. If I had fed this swim I might have spooked them off before getting a chance to catch them. After a couple of minutes I caught my first F1, and followed it by getting 3 more from the same swim. I moved the rig about a metre to the right and caught 2 fish again. I carried on doing this moving along the same depth of water left and right and picking up what fish I could. I never fed any bait on this line, just dropping the bread in to see if anything was there. In most cases I did not wait long for bites, so if no bites came after a few minutes I would change swims. I managed 11 fish using this tactic. I could not see anyone else around me catching much so I was pleased with the progress.
With an hour to go I started on the maggot line at 5 metres in the deepest water. I had been potting in around 20-30 maggots every 20-30 minutes or so since the start of the match. I fished double white maggot on a 18 808 hook. Again after a couple of minutes I caught another F1. I caught regularly from this swim until the end of the match, just feeding 6 maggots around the float after each fish. I was glad I caught on this line as I was worried that I might have killed it by feeding to much and spooking the fish, but I got away with it.
I ended the match with 18 fish, all F1's up to 3lb for 30lb 3oz and a section win. The next best weight from my section was 13lb so I was pleased with that result.
Next match is the second round of the Partridge Lakes Winter League, and if the rain stays off this week I might manage a trip to the River Mersey on the following day.
Tight Lines.
Wednesday, 18 November 2015
Partridge Lakes Winter League Round 1 14 Nov 2015
Hi all.
After what seems like a long wait the Partridge Lakes Winter League has started. The previous week I fished the Sunday open drawing peg 61 on Covey 3. Previous results had this as a good area with a lot of water to go at being opposite the end of the spit and having more open water to the right. I set up usual rigs of bread dobbing, 2ft pellet rig, 3ft maggot/pellet rig and a maggot rig for the deep water at 5-6metres. Started on the bread rig about 4 inches off bottom, managed 1 small F1 from here at the start, but no more bites after that. So next tried the 3ft swim slightly to the left with double maggot. This was the best line from which I caught most of the fish. Fishing in the track towards the end only produced 3 or 4 fish. I ended the match with 19 fish for 35lb 12oz. I was the last peg in the section and was lucky enough to win the section by a good margin as the pegs in the 50's did not produce. In hindsight I should have fished a line more towards the open water to my right. During the match and especially at the end a lot of fish were topping in the area between the end of the spit and the open water. If peg 75 at the end of the spit had been used in the match those fish would have been pushed back towards me. As it is the fish moved into an area with less angling pressure on the day. Mid 40lb would have seen me get in the top 6 so maybe I could have caught some fish to the right instead of expecting the track line to work.
So on to the winter league. Since starting to organise our team for this league there has been a lot of interest from the POHAS members wishing to fish it. So trying to whittle down nearly 10 names to a team of 4 was a bit tricky. So team for the day was myself, Alan Lamb, Phil Clare and Jon Green, this was based on those who had been fishing the venue most and having some success with section wins and frame placings. At this time of the year and into the rest of winter it is really important to keep attending the venue to stay in touch with good pegs and methods.
I carried out the draw which gave Phil on peg 1, Covey 1, Jon on 46 Covey 2, Alan peg 56 Covey 3 and myself on peg 96 Covey 4. From our draw we were pleased with Phil's peg and we had Jon on the spit on Covey 2. The spit usually fish well as the water is more sheltered from the weather and the fish move into these areas when the weather gets worse. Alan's peg expected to struggle as he had fished 57 a couple of weeks ago and it was not very good. My peg was also a bit of an unknown, although I was next to a bridge the pegs on the spit in my section were expected to fish a lot better.
View of peg 96, bridge on left and plenty of far bank sedges and grasses. Only 11.5 metres wide though.
Again for this peg I set up the usual rigs, bread dobbing, pellet rig for across, 3ft maggot and track rig for maggot again. Plumbing up showed that the depths along the far bank varied a lot and it was difficult finding a flat area to fish to. I fished a maggot line to the right in the deep water and next to the bridge again in the deepest water. I started on bread against the far bank grasses. I did expect to catch here as it looked like somewhere some fish would be holding up. However I did not get any bites on this. Meanwhile Shaun Cooke on my right started to catch some of the recently added stock fish close to the nearside margin, so I tried an expander feeding a few micros next to the near bank rushes, from this I only managed a small F1. It was a very slow start and I don't need to go into much detail as my match never really picked up from there. I caught 3 small Rudd on maggot across and a couple more better size F1's from the maggot lines to end the match with a very disappointing 5lb 11oz. With such a low weight I got what I expected and was last in the section of 10. After the weigh in I was told by several other anglers that my peg had been poor in recent matches, but I did not think it would be 5lb poor. I expected to catch fish under the bridge, but I could get a run of fish together and also no matter where I tried along the far bank at 2 or 3ft I only managed those 3 Rudd, it was a really bad day
I was hoping that the others in the team had fared better, sadly this was not the case and we all suffered a bad match. Phil was our best performer with 29lb getting 7 section points. Alan caught 16lb for 9 points and Jon had 19lb for another 10 points. Leaving us in last position with a total of 36 points from 40 and already a little way behind the next team above us. Guru and Garbolino Elton tied first place with 11 points, well done to those guys.
After the match our discussion centred around what could have affected our poor returns. The weather had changed in the couple of days leading up to the match, very mild for mid November, being replaced with colder winds, rain and hail, as well as strong winds. On the day the weather was not too bad, wind was not as strong as expected, but the rain was persistent when it started. All these factors affect the fishes behaviour in one way or another. Most of the good weights came from anglers who managed to catch the new stock fish, as these tend to stay close to where they were introduced and usually respond to pellet fishing. Whereas to catch the established fish it is mainly maggot fishing. We also felt that our draw was not very good, several pegs were really up against it.
So all in all it was not the start we expected and hopefully we will have better luck in the remainder of the competition. The only way is up.
The next hard part is picking a team for the next match, I had already suggested that we drop the worst points scorer in order to give those interested a chance in fishing, but the first match result has put a right spanner in the works. The initial feeling between those that fished the first match is to keep the team the same as they are the most experienced on the venue and hopefully we cannot do any worse. So I have a bit of a dilemma to solve before the next match.
At present my gear has just about dried out from the weekend and I am hoping to fish the Sunday open at Partridge. Unfortunately the weather gods are doing us no favours by forecasting cold air sweeping down the country over the weekend, but need to keep going. The league matches are every 2 weeks, so I will update after each match.
Thanks for reading, tight lines.
After what seems like a long wait the Partridge Lakes Winter League has started. The previous week I fished the Sunday open drawing peg 61 on Covey 3. Previous results had this as a good area with a lot of water to go at being opposite the end of the spit and having more open water to the right. I set up usual rigs of bread dobbing, 2ft pellet rig, 3ft maggot/pellet rig and a maggot rig for the deep water at 5-6metres. Started on the bread rig about 4 inches off bottom, managed 1 small F1 from here at the start, but no more bites after that. So next tried the 3ft swim slightly to the left with double maggot. This was the best line from which I caught most of the fish. Fishing in the track towards the end only produced 3 or 4 fish. I ended the match with 19 fish for 35lb 12oz. I was the last peg in the section and was lucky enough to win the section by a good margin as the pegs in the 50's did not produce. In hindsight I should have fished a line more towards the open water to my right. During the match and especially at the end a lot of fish were topping in the area between the end of the spit and the open water. If peg 75 at the end of the spit had been used in the match those fish would have been pushed back towards me. As it is the fish moved into an area with less angling pressure on the day. Mid 40lb would have seen me get in the top 6 so maybe I could have caught some fish to the right instead of expecting the track line to work.
So on to the winter league. Since starting to organise our team for this league there has been a lot of interest from the POHAS members wishing to fish it. So trying to whittle down nearly 10 names to a team of 4 was a bit tricky. So team for the day was myself, Alan Lamb, Phil Clare and Jon Green, this was based on those who had been fishing the venue most and having some success with section wins and frame placings. At this time of the year and into the rest of winter it is really important to keep attending the venue to stay in touch with good pegs and methods.
I carried out the draw which gave Phil on peg 1, Covey 1, Jon on 46 Covey 2, Alan peg 56 Covey 3 and myself on peg 96 Covey 4. From our draw we were pleased with Phil's peg and we had Jon on the spit on Covey 2. The spit usually fish well as the water is more sheltered from the weather and the fish move into these areas when the weather gets worse. Alan's peg expected to struggle as he had fished 57 a couple of weeks ago and it was not very good. My peg was also a bit of an unknown, although I was next to a bridge the pegs on the spit in my section were expected to fish a lot better.
Again for this peg I set up the usual rigs, bread dobbing, pellet rig for across, 3ft maggot and track rig for maggot again. Plumbing up showed that the depths along the far bank varied a lot and it was difficult finding a flat area to fish to. I fished a maggot line to the right in the deep water and next to the bridge again in the deepest water. I started on bread against the far bank grasses. I did expect to catch here as it looked like somewhere some fish would be holding up. However I did not get any bites on this. Meanwhile Shaun Cooke on my right started to catch some of the recently added stock fish close to the nearside margin, so I tried an expander feeding a few micros next to the near bank rushes, from this I only managed a small F1. It was a very slow start and I don't need to go into much detail as my match never really picked up from there. I caught 3 small Rudd on maggot across and a couple more better size F1's from the maggot lines to end the match with a very disappointing 5lb 11oz. With such a low weight I got what I expected and was last in the section of 10. After the weigh in I was told by several other anglers that my peg had been poor in recent matches, but I did not think it would be 5lb poor. I expected to catch fish under the bridge, but I could get a run of fish together and also no matter where I tried along the far bank at 2 or 3ft I only managed those 3 Rudd, it was a really bad day
I was hoping that the others in the team had fared better, sadly this was not the case and we all suffered a bad match. Phil was our best performer with 29lb getting 7 section points. Alan caught 16lb for 9 points and Jon had 19lb for another 10 points. Leaving us in last position with a total of 36 points from 40 and already a little way behind the next team above us. Guru and Garbolino Elton tied first place with 11 points, well done to those guys.
After the match our discussion centred around what could have affected our poor returns. The weather had changed in the couple of days leading up to the match, very mild for mid November, being replaced with colder winds, rain and hail, as well as strong winds. On the day the weather was not too bad, wind was not as strong as expected, but the rain was persistent when it started. All these factors affect the fishes behaviour in one way or another. Most of the good weights came from anglers who managed to catch the new stock fish, as these tend to stay close to where they were introduced and usually respond to pellet fishing. Whereas to catch the established fish it is mainly maggot fishing. We also felt that our draw was not very good, several pegs were really up against it.
So all in all it was not the start we expected and hopefully we will have better luck in the remainder of the competition. The only way is up.
The next hard part is picking a team for the next match, I had already suggested that we drop the worst points scorer in order to give those interested a chance in fishing, but the first match result has put a right spanner in the works. The initial feeling between those that fished the first match is to keep the team the same as they are the most experienced on the venue and hopefully we cannot do any worse. So I have a bit of a dilemma to solve before the next match.
At present my gear has just about dried out from the weekend and I am hoping to fish the Sunday open at Partridge. Unfortunately the weather gods are doing us no favours by forecasting cold air sweeping down the country over the weekend, but need to keep going. The league matches are every 2 weeks, so I will update after each match.
Thanks for reading, tight lines.
Sunday, 1 November 2015
Partridge Lakes.
Hi all.
After some disappointing matches on the River Mersey I decided to have a go at Partridge Lakes on a more regular basis.
I was hoping to get a better feel of the tactics required and catch some bigger weights.
View of peg 67 Covey 3. I fished here at the end of September and just missed out on a section win by 2oz!!!
In summary I still cannot get my head around fishing shallow with maggot or caster, and as a consequence during the warmer months my weights were low in comparison to the anglers who are good on this method. There are other methods to try but I struggled in the main. I have managed 2 section wins from peg 14 and 103, so sometimes I got it partly right.
Club matches with POHAS have been a little poor as well. We have traveled to some venues with good reputations but returns have been poor. My best performance was ironically at Partridge lakes catching 53lb of F1's and small carp on pellet to finish second off peg 167 Covey 6. As always the days out the POHAS bunch are a good laugh, the fishing always comes second.
As I write this at the beginning of November, although it has been mild for the time of year the weights on Partridge have started to decrease and shallow rigs are being put away for next year.
I fished the open today drawing peg 120 on Covey 5, not fished this area before but set up the usual rigs. 1 rig for dobbing bread, a pellet rig and 2 maggot rigs one for fishing at 3ft and the other for down the middle.
Covey 5 and 6 are newer lakes than 1-4 so therefore the fish are generally a bit smaller. With this in mind I did not expect to catch on bread, but the peg did have plenty of grasses and reeds on the far bank so I might get a few. I used a 6mm punch set 3 inches off the bottom. I caught 2 F1's on this, but after a while no matter which area I tried I did not get any bites. Next up was pellet set at 2 foot deep against the far bank sedges again after 2 quick fish this line died off as well. So it was time for maggot, fishing at 3ft with 10 metres of pole just to the right. After feeding 4 maggots I started to get bites and began catching a few. Not at any great pace but enough to keep going. I was missing bites as well.
I had been feeding maggots down the middle via a small pot every 20-30 minutes since the start and after 3 hours with 19 fish in the net I had a look here. After a couple of minutes I got my first fish again a small F1. Following this I caught quite well feeding just under half a kinder pot of maggots after every other fish. As per normal I missed a few bites and finished the match with 40 fish (38 F1's + 2 chub) for 32lb 12oz. This was second in the 5 peg section which was won with 44lb off peg 117. Generally speaking the fish I caught were on the small side, but that's how it goes.
In a couple of weeks time POHAS will be starting the Partridge Lakes teams of 4 Winter League. We have managed a few more visits between us lately so we are better prepared than last year and although up against some really good Partridge regulars we are hoping to finish better than last years last place.Also this year we have had more interest from the club members who want to be part of the team, which is great news but does make picking a team a bit more difficult.
Tight lines.
After some disappointing matches on the River Mersey I decided to have a go at Partridge Lakes on a more regular basis.
I was hoping to get a better feel of the tactics required and catch some bigger weights.
In summary I still cannot get my head around fishing shallow with maggot or caster, and as a consequence during the warmer months my weights were low in comparison to the anglers who are good on this method. There are other methods to try but I struggled in the main. I have managed 2 section wins from peg 14 and 103, so sometimes I got it partly right.
Club matches with POHAS have been a little poor as well. We have traveled to some venues with good reputations but returns have been poor. My best performance was ironically at Partridge lakes catching 53lb of F1's and small carp on pellet to finish second off peg 167 Covey 6. As always the days out the POHAS bunch are a good laugh, the fishing always comes second.
As I write this at the beginning of November, although it has been mild for the time of year the weights on Partridge have started to decrease and shallow rigs are being put away for next year.
I fished the open today drawing peg 120 on Covey 5, not fished this area before but set up the usual rigs. 1 rig for dobbing bread, a pellet rig and 2 maggot rigs one for fishing at 3ft and the other for down the middle.
Covey 5 and 6 are newer lakes than 1-4 so therefore the fish are generally a bit smaller. With this in mind I did not expect to catch on bread, but the peg did have plenty of grasses and reeds on the far bank so I might get a few. I used a 6mm punch set 3 inches off the bottom. I caught 2 F1's on this, but after a while no matter which area I tried I did not get any bites. Next up was pellet set at 2 foot deep against the far bank sedges again after 2 quick fish this line died off as well. So it was time for maggot, fishing at 3ft with 10 metres of pole just to the right. After feeding 4 maggots I started to get bites and began catching a few. Not at any great pace but enough to keep going. I was missing bites as well.
I had been feeding maggots down the middle via a small pot every 20-30 minutes since the start and after 3 hours with 19 fish in the net I had a look here. After a couple of minutes I got my first fish again a small F1. Following this I caught quite well feeding just under half a kinder pot of maggots after every other fish. As per normal I missed a few bites and finished the match with 40 fish (38 F1's + 2 chub) for 32lb 12oz. This was second in the 5 peg section which was won with 44lb off peg 117. Generally speaking the fish I caught were on the small side, but that's how it goes.
In a couple of weeks time POHAS will be starting the Partridge Lakes teams of 4 Winter League. We have managed a few more visits between us lately so we are better prepared than last year and although up against some really good Partridge regulars we are hoping to finish better than last years last place.Also this year we have had more interest from the club members who want to be part of the team, which is great news but does make picking a team a bit more difficult.
Tight lines.
Sunday, 20 September 2015
Division 2 National.
Hi all.
Following last years relegation from Division 1 on the River Trent Warrington AA were once again faced with a match on the Trent this time fishing sections from Nottingham up to Newark. At least there were no sections on the tidal river when I suffered a really bad match last year fishing at South Clifton, and scored only 2 points. The rest of the team did not fair well either and the team were relegated. Not a good feeling.
I was hoping to be able to have some time to practice this year, but my work schedule during July and August had me working away from home a lot and just could not spare time or deal with the long journey especially after working in Scotland. I needed to rest at weekends. God help me when I get older.
Prior to the match only a couple of people had managed to practice and have a look at the river. We were able to come up with a loose plan and were aware of which sections were good and bad. In the run up to the match the weather had been steady with no significant rain so we knew that in the main big fish like barbel and bream would be less likely to feed, as they prefer coloured water and an increase in river flow. So our plan was mainly centred around catching the smaller fish on pole or float tactics.
Come the big day my draw gave me A section peg 18 at Clifton just by the main bypass into Nottingham, generally a shallow faster paced section with the possibility of barbel. This was only a short drive from the draw HQ so I had plenty of time to get ready. Firstly big thanks to the controlling club, Nottingham Federation. All the pegs featured steps down to either a concreted area and platform or a platform. From the pictures below of my peg it would put many commercial fisheries to shame. Added to this the bonus of being able to park behind your peg made it a fantastic experience. Its a wonder why anglers are drifting away from rivers when clubs put this much effort in.
First picture of peg number (permanent peg 16 out of shot), second view across to far bank and third from top of steps leading to peg.
After looking at my peg the water was very clear, and I can say that the clarity of water is similar to the Hampshire Avon and Dorset Stour. On this day there was no algae or sediment to colour the water. When the sun came out I could see the bottom were I would be fishing the pole and stick float. My main plan was to float fish. I set up a stick float for close in, waggler for further out and 2 pole rigs, one for chopped worm and the other at 6 sections to fish over some groundbait. I set up a feeder rod in case it went really bad.
From our team meeting we knew there were plenty of perch to be caught close to near bank cover and lots of small dace and roach on the stick or waggler.
On my peg there were nearside grasses and reeds close in and a bank of underwater weed however it was only about 3 foot deep and little actual flow, so I was not sure how good this would be. Anyway I fished this with a 4x14 dibber to fish a piece of worm over chopped worm and caster. At 6 sections of pole I found about 5 feet with a nice steady pace. Here I fished a 1 gram float over the same groundbait mix I use on the River Mersey, and due to the flow I also loose fed caster and hemp over the top. This is were I also set up a small stick float so that I could run on the same line down past the range of the pole. On the waggler the water was a bit deeper at around 7 feet. I fed maggot and hemp here. My feeder set up was a 50 gram Kamasan blackcap feeder and 18 hook for double hook maggot.
At the all in I placed 2 bait droppers of worm and caster down the peg close to near bank weed. Threw 5 balls of groundbait at 6 sections and fed maggots and hemp for the waggler. While that lot settled down I fished the feeder for about half an hour, caster and hemp in the feeder with double maggot on the hook. Worryingly I did not have any bites on the feeder, I expected a couple of small fish rattles at least. I then moved on to the chopped worm line and caught 6 quick perch, although small at least I had caught. After an hour I tried the pole rig at 6 sections. I caught a couple of dace but missed a lot of quick bites. In hindsight I should have fished a heavier rig to help with control and slow the bait down a bit. I also thought that the fish may not have settled properly on this line, so with the clear water in mind I changed to the waggler. It some became clear that I need more practice on this type of fishing, especially in faster water. I did catch a few dace on this but also missed a lot of bites and suffered some bad tangles. Bad angling.
So I came back to the inside line this time fishing the stick float. This was a lot more consistent and I managed to catch dace and a couple of roach for the remainder of the match. I did miss a lot of quick bites and suffered from people standing behind me at times spooking the fish in the clear water. I also caught a few more perch close in before the end, but this line was not great.
The all out came too soon and my 36 fish total gave me 2 kilos 250 grams. This was average in the section. There were a lot of 2 kilo weights and I was at the low end of 2 kilos. Over 3 kilos would have been really good points. Anyway I earned 12 points out of 27 for the team, so just below half way in the section. Back at HQ and we had not performed any better than last year finishing 26th out of 27 teams. We suffered 2 blanks and only had 2 of the team getting into the top 10 of their sections.
Its been said before, hindsight is the best angler in the world. The team did not practice so were not used to the river and tactics required. It was clear during my match that my wagglers were not heavy enough and my skills at waggler fishing need more work on. I should have maybe fished the pole at 6 sections instead of the stick float feeding more groundbait to concentrate the fish further up the peg. These are the things you only find out by practicing at some form or other. Finding out on the day that your gear is not up to scratch is not good enough.
Once the results were read out, to gain promotion by finishing in the top 10 we needed to average a top 10-12 finish in the section. With some practice I feel we could have done that. But that's my opinion. Next years match is on the Birmingham Fazeley Canal, so should suit us more. Having said that if we don't practice enough we will come found wanting again.
Finally must thank Jeff Stoll team captain, and all the others in team for fishing the match. Warrington AA for their continued support and funding our participation. Angling Trust for their organisation and to all the clubs who provided their waters for us to fish and stewards to run it.
On to next year.
Tight lines.
Following last years relegation from Division 1 on the River Trent Warrington AA were once again faced with a match on the Trent this time fishing sections from Nottingham up to Newark. At least there were no sections on the tidal river when I suffered a really bad match last year fishing at South Clifton, and scored only 2 points. The rest of the team did not fair well either and the team were relegated. Not a good feeling.
I was hoping to be able to have some time to practice this year, but my work schedule during July and August had me working away from home a lot and just could not spare time or deal with the long journey especially after working in Scotland. I needed to rest at weekends. God help me when I get older.
Prior to the match only a couple of people had managed to practice and have a look at the river. We were able to come up with a loose plan and were aware of which sections were good and bad. In the run up to the match the weather had been steady with no significant rain so we knew that in the main big fish like barbel and bream would be less likely to feed, as they prefer coloured water and an increase in river flow. So our plan was mainly centred around catching the smaller fish on pole or float tactics.
Come the big day my draw gave me A section peg 18 at Clifton just by the main bypass into Nottingham, generally a shallow faster paced section with the possibility of barbel. This was only a short drive from the draw HQ so I had plenty of time to get ready. Firstly big thanks to the controlling club, Nottingham Federation. All the pegs featured steps down to either a concreted area and platform or a platform. From the pictures below of my peg it would put many commercial fisheries to shame. Added to this the bonus of being able to park behind your peg made it a fantastic experience. Its a wonder why anglers are drifting away from rivers when clubs put this much effort in.
First picture of peg number (permanent peg 16 out of shot), second view across to far bank and third from top of steps leading to peg.
After looking at my peg the water was very clear, and I can say that the clarity of water is similar to the Hampshire Avon and Dorset Stour. On this day there was no algae or sediment to colour the water. When the sun came out I could see the bottom were I would be fishing the pole and stick float. My main plan was to float fish. I set up a stick float for close in, waggler for further out and 2 pole rigs, one for chopped worm and the other at 6 sections to fish over some groundbait. I set up a feeder rod in case it went really bad.
From our team meeting we knew there were plenty of perch to be caught close to near bank cover and lots of small dace and roach on the stick or waggler.
On my peg there were nearside grasses and reeds close in and a bank of underwater weed however it was only about 3 foot deep and little actual flow, so I was not sure how good this would be. Anyway I fished this with a 4x14 dibber to fish a piece of worm over chopped worm and caster. At 6 sections of pole I found about 5 feet with a nice steady pace. Here I fished a 1 gram float over the same groundbait mix I use on the River Mersey, and due to the flow I also loose fed caster and hemp over the top. This is were I also set up a small stick float so that I could run on the same line down past the range of the pole. On the waggler the water was a bit deeper at around 7 feet. I fed maggot and hemp here. My feeder set up was a 50 gram Kamasan blackcap feeder and 18 hook for double hook maggot.
At the all in I placed 2 bait droppers of worm and caster down the peg close to near bank weed. Threw 5 balls of groundbait at 6 sections and fed maggots and hemp for the waggler. While that lot settled down I fished the feeder for about half an hour, caster and hemp in the feeder with double maggot on the hook. Worryingly I did not have any bites on the feeder, I expected a couple of small fish rattles at least. I then moved on to the chopped worm line and caught 6 quick perch, although small at least I had caught. After an hour I tried the pole rig at 6 sections. I caught a couple of dace but missed a lot of quick bites. In hindsight I should have fished a heavier rig to help with control and slow the bait down a bit. I also thought that the fish may not have settled properly on this line, so with the clear water in mind I changed to the waggler. It some became clear that I need more practice on this type of fishing, especially in faster water. I did catch a few dace on this but also missed a lot of bites and suffered some bad tangles. Bad angling.
So I came back to the inside line this time fishing the stick float. This was a lot more consistent and I managed to catch dace and a couple of roach for the remainder of the match. I did miss a lot of quick bites and suffered from people standing behind me at times spooking the fish in the clear water. I also caught a few more perch close in before the end, but this line was not great.
The all out came too soon and my 36 fish total gave me 2 kilos 250 grams. This was average in the section. There were a lot of 2 kilo weights and I was at the low end of 2 kilos. Over 3 kilos would have been really good points. Anyway I earned 12 points out of 27 for the team, so just below half way in the section. Back at HQ and we had not performed any better than last year finishing 26th out of 27 teams. We suffered 2 blanks and only had 2 of the team getting into the top 10 of their sections.
Its been said before, hindsight is the best angler in the world. The team did not practice so were not used to the river and tactics required. It was clear during my match that my wagglers were not heavy enough and my skills at waggler fishing need more work on. I should have maybe fished the pole at 6 sections instead of the stick float feeding more groundbait to concentrate the fish further up the peg. These are the things you only find out by practicing at some form or other. Finding out on the day that your gear is not up to scratch is not good enough.
Once the results were read out, to gain promotion by finishing in the top 10 we needed to average a top 10-12 finish in the section. With some practice I feel we could have done that. But that's my opinion. Next years match is on the Birmingham Fazeley Canal, so should suit us more. Having said that if we don't practice enough we will come found wanting again.
Finally must thank Jeff Stoll team captain, and all the others in team for fishing the match. Warrington AA for their continued support and funding our participation. Angling Trust for their organisation and to all the clubs who provided their waters for us to fish and stewards to run it.
On to next year.
Tight lines.
Saturday, 19 September 2015
River season begins again.
Hi all.
As per normal I have left it a while since updating my blog. I will start with some river trips.
At the start of the River season I began fishing the matches on the River Mersey again. On the first Sunday of the season I fished the Warrington AA match at Victoria Park. I drew peg 21 and decided to fish a pole match. There was not much colour or flow in the river, so I set up to bulk and dropper rigs and 1 rig with strung out shots for catching on the drop. As usual I don't tend to fish any further than 11 metres out. I mixed up my usual groundbait mix of 1 part Sensas Lake, 1 part Sensas Noir and 1 part dark leam. I mix the groundbait as normal and add the leam afterwards and check it holds together enough. If not, very carefully add some water, but too much will ruin it very quickly. I then separate enough of the mix to make 5-6 balls into another bowl. To this I add a pot of casters and a pot of hemp and make 5 balls to cup in. I dare not throw them in case I break the pole or more likely be inaccurate. The leam adds weight to help get the bait down in the flow and depth, but will also break the balls up quickly once on bottom.
In the past I used to have an half to an hour on the feeder whilst the pole line settled but I found last season that you could start catching pretty quickly by fishing straight away so this is what I did. Also last year I found that loose feeding over the top did not help much. If bites slowed down I would cup another smaller ball in and usually the fish came back again.
In this match I caught mainly perch and some small roach on maggot. Not many fish were caught on caster, and after 21/2 hours the peg died off and the rest of the match found bites hard to come by. Topping up did not help either. I weighed 5lb 11oz for 3rd in the match. So a nice start to the season. After the match most others had the same experience good early on then poor afterwards.
My following matches on the river were not very productive, drawing on deep water pegs which were bream or bust, I bust. They have been some good weights with bream but not everyone gets them so its not been great. So far in comparison the weights on the pole seem to be lower than previous years and the roach have been smaller. I have been catching the same amount of fish for 5lb that would have caught over 10lb in the past. However the matches I have fished have been early summer and it should pick up around Aug/Sep until Christmas.
2 pegs on Mersey which have been bream or bust. I bust.....
So far I have only managed 1 trip to the River Severn where I fished at Emstrey. The river was low and clear and despite seeing barbel rolling where I was fishing I blanked. A bit disappointing but nice to be on the river again. Hopefully will go again before the weather turns cold, but will need some rain to add colour and flow to encourage the barbel to feed more freely.
River Severn at Emstrey, feeder with groundbait and pellet cast to far bank trees.
During the annual POHAS Jolly boys trip this I managed my first trip to the River Wye near Hereford with my dad and Phil Clare.
After visiting Woodys Tackle shop in Hereford for day tickets and advice we set off to the river. Of the several spots we were advised to try one was taken so a walk further downstream so me settle on a peg below some fast shallow water which was still close in and the main flow flow was just short of mid river. I thought that by casting to the edge of the faster flowing water would see me catch some chub and barbel. It was a very hot still day so it could be difficult. Apart from seeing a monster perch close to the bank stalking minnows I had no bites. After a couple of hours the local bailiff told me to move a little upstream and fish right in the fast shallow water below a riffle. Local knowledge works and I managed 7 chub and 2 barbel fishing a groundbait feeder packed with groundbait, pellets and hemp with a hair rigged pellet for hookbait. Unfortunately my dad and Phil struggled to catch any big fish fishing a bit further downstream in steadier water. Without the bailiffs help I probably would have struggled to catch. Needless to say the guys in the tackle shop and on the bank know their stuff and are really helpful to anyone visiting the area. Will be good to have another go sometime.
Barbel and Chub from River Wye. Bottom picture view across River, bailiff told me to cast just past the fast water.
At present that's been about it for my River fishing so far. Hopefully I will get back on the Mersey again and have some trips to the Severn.
Tight lines.
Monday, 9 March 2015
Heronbrook Spring League Round 1
Hi all.
1st round of the Heronbrook Spring League took place on 15th Feb.
Team made up of myself, Neil Pritchard, Alan Lamb, and Jonathan Green.
I was drawn on Meadow pool peg 23. This peg had not much previous form, so did not quite know what to expect. The weather was relatively calm, but still a bit cold. Mainly fished similar tactics to Partridge, maggot down middle and going up the far shelf as well as bread across. I found around 3ft at 13 metres, so started there on maggot whilst potting in some maggots in the deepest water around 6 metres.
Unbelievably (or maybe not), I lost 7 good fish on maggot either they were fool hooked or the fish were too powerful for my rig and broke the hooklengths. These fish were good carp and too strong for the light gear. I did switch over to white hydro and managed to net a couple to settle me down a bit. Bites slowed in this area, so tried the deep water at the bottom of the far shelf at 11 metres after potting in 4 maggots I started to regularly catch good size F1's. It was a little too late in the match for a serious comeback and was left wondering what might have been if any of the lost fish had been landed. I weighed in 28lb and got 7 section points. Team wise we did ok, scoring a total of 23 points, Neil Pritchard was 4th in his section on Island pool and manage to get in the overall top 20 with 42lb.
After the match we decided to stick to same pools for the duration of the league instead of switching anglers about. Makes a lot of sense, as hopefully you will have a better understanding of pegs and tactics if you keep drawing the same lake.
Tight lines.
1st round of the Heronbrook Spring League took place on 15th Feb.
Team made up of myself, Neil Pritchard, Alan Lamb, and Jonathan Green.
I was drawn on Meadow pool peg 23. This peg had not much previous form, so did not quite know what to expect. The weather was relatively calm, but still a bit cold. Mainly fished similar tactics to Partridge, maggot down middle and going up the far shelf as well as bread across. I found around 3ft at 13 metres, so started there on maggot whilst potting in some maggots in the deepest water around 6 metres.
Unbelievably (or maybe not), I lost 7 good fish on maggot either they were fool hooked or the fish were too powerful for my rig and broke the hooklengths. These fish were good carp and too strong for the light gear. I did switch over to white hydro and managed to net a couple to settle me down a bit. Bites slowed in this area, so tried the deep water at the bottom of the far shelf at 11 metres after potting in 4 maggots I started to regularly catch good size F1's. It was a little too late in the match for a serious comeback and was left wondering what might have been if any of the lost fish had been landed. I weighed in 28lb and got 7 section points. Team wise we did ok, scoring a total of 23 points, Neil Pritchard was 4th in his section on Island pool and manage to get in the overall top 20 with 42lb.
After the match we decided to stick to same pools for the duration of the league instead of switching anglers about. Makes a lot of sense, as hopefully you will have a better understanding of pegs and tactics if you keep drawing the same lake.
Tight lines.
Friday, 6 February 2015
2015 A bit of a crash bang wallop.
Hi all.
Once again it has been a while uploading any blog messages so here we go again and hopefully I will keep more up to date.
Partridge Lakes Team of 4 Winter League 2014-15.
This year POHAS put a team together to fish the winter league at Partridge Lakes. A venue on our doorstep, great facilities and full of fish. We knew from the outset that we would be up against some brilliant anglers who fish the venue very often and as a club team my thinking was this can only help us improve. The league started back in Nov 2014 and to be honest we have had some mixed results. In a lot of matches the fishing has been close enough to make just a few extra fish mean getting good section points. So far it has been a bit disappointing as none of us have picked up any money. My best matches have been a third on the lake fishing Covey 3 peg 52 catching 42lb of F1's in the first match of the league. Also catching 18lb after breaking the ice in December in a really close section. As it turns out if I had not lost a couple of the fish I would have won the section. Such is life.
In the main the tactics have mostly been maggot fishing at 3 feet deep up the far shelf and down the middle in the deepest water. Along with some bread "dobbing" in different areas of the peg.
The first league match (round 6) in the New Year was greeted with storm force winds and made for a very difficult match. Mine was quite disastrous. Before the all in my No 8 section had been blown in and shortly after the match started my No 7 section was broken in two after being blown into the aerator power supply. I was feeling very down and ready to go home with thoughts of having to buy a new pole going through my head. Anyway I started on top 2 + 1 section going down the near shelf with maggot, but had no bites. I tried the bomb with either bread or maggot, again no bites. After my pole getting wrecked I started to get a bit down. Later into the match the wind did reduce a little, and I mean a little so I was still able to reach the aerator to my right with the 6 sections of pole I was able to use. Fishing as best as I could with this in the wind I managed 5 fish for just over 8lb, caught on maggot and pinkie. It was no great surprise to know I only beat 1 other in the section. Despite the conditions some good weights were caught. However for some the match and like many more around the country over that weekend were carnage, stories of multiple section breaks, seat boxes getting blown in etc. It was no doubt the windiest I had fished in.
After all this I arranged to have No 8 section retrieved by a diver and my No 7 section repaired in less than a week and at a cost of less than replacing a No 4. So in hindsight it could have been a lot worse.
Round 7 brought calmer but cold conditions. In the days before the match the lakes had been frozen, but thawed the day before. Therefore the water temperature had dropped and effect the fish behavior, proving to be a hard match. This time I drew peg 50 on Covey 3 with the bridge to the spit to my right. In the first league match the angler on this peg caught a lot of fish under the bridge so I was optimistic. On plumbing up the deep water was mainly in front of me and to the left, the closer to the bridge the shallower it became. As usual rigs were set up for the deep water, 3ft up the far shelf and under the bridge and a bread rig for fishing off bottom. I started on bread under the bridge about 6 ins off bottom, no bites. Moved on to maggot on the bottom again no bites. I started fishing on the 3ft rig in front of me and caught 2 F1's one after each other. It was then a case of moving round to try a catch other fish. Unfortunately I only managed 6 fish for 7lb 7oz, 4 F1's and 2 Ide caught at 3ft up the far shelf from different swims in front of me. I never had a bite under the bridge and nothing on the deep track rig. The angler to my right on peg 52 after a slow start weighed 29lb by fishing towards the corner near bank at 16 metres. Team wise was again not great, Jon Green managed 4th on Covey 1 with over 8lb, James Bryan and Neil Pritchard only managed a couple of fish each for weights of around 2lb, It was that bad, pegs that had won recent matches surrendered very little.
The next round is the last, so hopefully the conditions will be better and we can catch a few more.
Round 8 and again cold day with a breeze blowing down the lakes. I was lucky to have peg 23 on Covey 2 again next to a bridge and the wind blowing from behind me most of the time. Again usual rigs set up. I was noticeable that the bridge peg was deeper than in the previous match so I was hoping for a better return. As normal I started on the 3ft rig fishing close to the bridge with maggot. I missed a couple of bites and came inside to fish at 4 metres in the deep water down the near shelf. 1 bite on this resulted in a 5lb carp that led me a merry dance all round the peg on 6's elastic. Glad to get that one in. In the end I managed about 8 fish for 15lb and 5th in section, so a slightly better result. most of the fish came at 3ft in various parts of the peg. Again any line fished in the deep water struggled to produce much sport.
Team wise we suffered a blank and a next to last in section so again our points were high and we remained bottom of the league. There were other blanks as well, so it was another difficult day.
Hopefully do better next time.
Onward now to the Heronbrook Spring League, hopefully the weather will become a bit more milder and the overall fishing will improve.
Tight lines.
Once again it has been a while uploading any blog messages so here we go again and hopefully I will keep more up to date.
Partridge Lakes Team of 4 Winter League 2014-15.
This year POHAS put a team together to fish the winter league at Partridge Lakes. A venue on our doorstep, great facilities and full of fish. We knew from the outset that we would be up against some brilliant anglers who fish the venue very often and as a club team my thinking was this can only help us improve. The league started back in Nov 2014 and to be honest we have had some mixed results. In a lot of matches the fishing has been close enough to make just a few extra fish mean getting good section points. So far it has been a bit disappointing as none of us have picked up any money. My best matches have been a third on the lake fishing Covey 3 peg 52 catching 42lb of F1's in the first match of the league. Also catching 18lb after breaking the ice in December in a really close section. As it turns out if I had not lost a couple of the fish I would have won the section. Such is life.
In the main the tactics have mostly been maggot fishing at 3 feet deep up the far shelf and down the middle in the deepest water. Along with some bread "dobbing" in different areas of the peg.
The first league match (round 6) in the New Year was greeted with storm force winds and made for a very difficult match. Mine was quite disastrous. Before the all in my No 8 section had been blown in and shortly after the match started my No 7 section was broken in two after being blown into the aerator power supply. I was feeling very down and ready to go home with thoughts of having to buy a new pole going through my head. Anyway I started on top 2 + 1 section going down the near shelf with maggot, but had no bites. I tried the bomb with either bread or maggot, again no bites. After my pole getting wrecked I started to get a bit down. Later into the match the wind did reduce a little, and I mean a little so I was still able to reach the aerator to my right with the 6 sections of pole I was able to use. Fishing as best as I could with this in the wind I managed 5 fish for just over 8lb, caught on maggot and pinkie. It was no great surprise to know I only beat 1 other in the section. Despite the conditions some good weights were caught. However for some the match and like many more around the country over that weekend were carnage, stories of multiple section breaks, seat boxes getting blown in etc. It was no doubt the windiest I had fished in.
After all this I arranged to have No 8 section retrieved by a diver and my No 7 section repaired in less than a week and at a cost of less than replacing a No 4. So in hindsight it could have been a lot worse.
Round 7 brought calmer but cold conditions. In the days before the match the lakes had been frozen, but thawed the day before. Therefore the water temperature had dropped and effect the fish behavior, proving to be a hard match. This time I drew peg 50 on Covey 3 with the bridge to the spit to my right. In the first league match the angler on this peg caught a lot of fish under the bridge so I was optimistic. On plumbing up the deep water was mainly in front of me and to the left, the closer to the bridge the shallower it became. As usual rigs were set up for the deep water, 3ft up the far shelf and under the bridge and a bread rig for fishing off bottom. I started on bread under the bridge about 6 ins off bottom, no bites. Moved on to maggot on the bottom again no bites. I started fishing on the 3ft rig in front of me and caught 2 F1's one after each other. It was then a case of moving round to try a catch other fish. Unfortunately I only managed 6 fish for 7lb 7oz, 4 F1's and 2 Ide caught at 3ft up the far shelf from different swims in front of me. I never had a bite under the bridge and nothing on the deep track rig. The angler to my right on peg 52 after a slow start weighed 29lb by fishing towards the corner near bank at 16 metres. Team wise was again not great, Jon Green managed 4th on Covey 1 with over 8lb, James Bryan and Neil Pritchard only managed a couple of fish each for weights of around 2lb, It was that bad, pegs that had won recent matches surrendered very little.
The next round is the last, so hopefully the conditions will be better and we can catch a few more.
Round 8 and again cold day with a breeze blowing down the lakes. I was lucky to have peg 23 on Covey 2 again next to a bridge and the wind blowing from behind me most of the time. Again usual rigs set up. I was noticeable that the bridge peg was deeper than in the previous match so I was hoping for a better return. As normal I started on the 3ft rig fishing close to the bridge with maggot. I missed a couple of bites and came inside to fish at 4 metres in the deep water down the near shelf. 1 bite on this resulted in a 5lb carp that led me a merry dance all round the peg on 6's elastic. Glad to get that one in. In the end I managed about 8 fish for 15lb and 5th in section, so a slightly better result. most of the fish came at 3ft in various parts of the peg. Again any line fished in the deep water struggled to produce much sport.
Team wise we suffered a blank and a next to last in section so again our points were high and we remained bottom of the league. There were other blanks as well, so it was another difficult day.
Hopefully do better next time.
Onward now to the Heronbrook Spring League, hopefully the weather will become a bit more milder and the overall fishing will improve.
Tight lines.
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