There were only nine of us for today's match, which took place in 10 degrees, but with a biting north westerly that mad the fishing tough for everyone. I drew peg 18 which I had never fished before, but knew it was in the shallow section, and at this time of year, that's not good!
On Sunday I managed 13 carp for 30lbs - today I had 16 carp and 2 roach for 4lbs - 10oz :-) You can only catch what's there, and even that was tough - I started on the far shelf in around 2 feet of water and had 2 'micro' carp in the first 30 minutes. I then tried the bottom of the shelf which was still less than 3 feet deep, but nothing doing. As usual I was keeping a lookout for any signs of fish moving, and I spotted a swirl in the margin to my left - I caught all my remaining carp from there, but they were all pretty small, with a couple of even smaller roach, all taken on 4 or 6mm pellet! So a frustrating day, but I still picked up a couple of new ideas, that I will try out in Saturday's B division match :-)
The match was won by the old fox, John Perella, with Davy Smith second and Douglas Phillips third.
Full results can be found here.
Wednesday 29 February 2012
Sunday 26 February 2012
Magiscroft AC - Winter League Match 3 - Island/Top Pond
As the first 2 winter league matches were in 2011, I wasn't eligible to fish in them, but as a Magiscroft AC member for 2012, I made my debut in a 'club match'.
Today was a big match, with 32 people fishing, which meant splitting it between the Island and Top ponds. Today's event was also a doubles match where pegs are paired prior to the draw, kinda like a 'Secret Santa'.
The draw was called and I joined the end of a long line - there were only 9 pegs left and I drew another peg that I have never fished, P29 on the Island pond, which is paired with P7 on the Top pond. James Woodrow (Scottish Internationalist) drew the pair peg - I couldn't have wished for a better draw from a partner sense!
P29 is on the top bend of the Island Pond and I quickly found that there were some steep drop offs on the far shelf, so I setup to fish in a channel on the far side at 15m and a second rig for my usual bottom of the shelf spot at 13m.
When the all in was called I'm was maybe 10 seconds behind everybody else but within 15 seconds of getting my float out to the channel in the far shelf, I hooked into a nice F1 of around 2lbs.
I was using 4 and 6mm pellets but kept getting bites that I couldn't connect with until I hooked a small roach on a 6mm pellet - which dropped off, but at least I now knew that the small roach were the cause of the 'un-hitable' bites. I then moved to using 8mm pellets as there is no way any roach under a pound could take a pellet that big - I still got the bites, but my pellet stayed intact, allowing me to just drop the rig straight back in. Which got me another nice F1.
And then it happened - I had both pole rollers setup to cope with shipping back 16m of pole - and the pole had gotten entangled with a tree beyond the second roller - so rather than pull it past and damage the paint finish on the 16m section, I tried to move it by lifting it from the business end - which promptly snapped my no 5 section.
But all I did was take the top bit of the broken no 5 section and push it through the bottom bit - as all sections are tapered, it fitted snugly and gave a useable, section, only 2-3" shorter.
The 'un-hitable' bites from small roach continued, but ever 20 mins or so, I connected with a carp - I lost 3 through stupidity, but still managed to land 12 F1s and a solitary common carp which at the weigh in, gave me 30lb flat.
The match was won By John Baird Jnr on P23 with 49lb 10oz, Dave Minard was second with 40lbs 6oz and Stuart Dalgliesh third with 31lb 9oz. So 4th in my first club match, and Woody managed 21lb 15oz, which gave us second in the pairs match behind John Baird Jnr/John Perrela.
Full results can be found here.
Today was a big match, with 32 people fishing, which meant splitting it between the Island and Top ponds. Today's event was also a doubles match where pegs are paired prior to the draw, kinda like a 'Secret Santa'.
The draw was called and I joined the end of a long line - there were only 9 pegs left and I drew another peg that I have never fished, P29 on the Island pond, which is paired with P7 on the Top pond. James Woodrow (Scottish Internationalist) drew the pair peg - I couldn't have wished for a better draw from a partner sense!
P29 is on the top bend of the Island Pond and I quickly found that there were some steep drop offs on the far shelf, so I setup to fish in a channel on the far side at 15m and a second rig for my usual bottom of the shelf spot at 13m.
When the all in was called I'm was maybe 10 seconds behind everybody else but within 15 seconds of getting my float out to the channel in the far shelf, I hooked into a nice F1 of around 2lbs.
I was using 4 and 6mm pellets but kept getting bites that I couldn't connect with until I hooked a small roach on a 6mm pellet - which dropped off, but at least I now knew that the small roach were the cause of the 'un-hitable' bites. I then moved to using 8mm pellets as there is no way any roach under a pound could take a pellet that big - I still got the bites, but my pellet stayed intact, allowing me to just drop the rig straight back in. Which got me another nice F1.
And then it happened - I had both pole rollers setup to cope with shipping back 16m of pole - and the pole had gotten entangled with a tree beyond the second roller - so rather than pull it past and damage the paint finish on the 16m section, I tried to move it by lifting it from the business end - which promptly snapped my no 5 section.
But all I did was take the top bit of the broken no 5 section and push it through the bottom bit - as all sections are tapered, it fitted snugly and gave a useable, section, only 2-3" shorter.
The 'un-hitable' bites from small roach continued, but ever 20 mins or so, I connected with a carp - I lost 3 through stupidity, but still managed to land 12 F1s and a solitary common carp which at the weigh in, gave me 30lb flat.
The match was won By John Baird Jnr on P23 with 49lb 10oz, Dave Minard was second with 40lbs 6oz and Stuart Dalgliesh third with 31lb 9oz. So 4th in my first club match, and Woody managed 21lb 15oz, which gave us second in the pairs match behind John Baird Jnr/John Perrela.
Full results can be found here.
Friday 24 February 2012
Ton Up? - Island Pond Thursday Feb 23rd 2012
Yesterday, I missed another Wednesday match so after having blanked on Peg 26 in last weeks match, I thought I'd give it another try today.
There was quite a variable wind from the south west, but it was between 10 and 11 degrees, so the frequent light showers weren't a big deal.
It was too windy to fish the far bank (16m) so I plumbed up a line around 13m at the bottom of the far shelf.
Within 5 minutes I had a small tench of around 8oz, and this rate of bites continued for the whole day! I was fishing my own flavoured pellet at dead depth under one of Davy Smith's 0.1g floats with a size 16 Drennan wide gape.
I had planned to fish 10:00 to 15:00, but ended up staying 'till 16:30
3 tench, 20 stockies, 5 big F1's of 4lb+, and another 38 carp of 1lb-3lb (F1's, Commons and Mirrors).
3 Tench 1lb
20 Stockie Carp 10lb
5 Big F1s 20lb
38 1-3 (say 2lb avg) 72lb
What an awesome day - easily my biggest ever haul. Keepnets are only allowed during a match, so all the weights are estimates, but I'd bet the numbers above are on the light side........
And I had a witness, Tommy L who was running the fishery on Thursday.
I'd be very surprised if the ton mark doesn't happen in a match on the Island sometime this year.
And from about 15:00 on there were fish topping all over the place - just like summer :-)
No doubt my next match will be a tough one.............
There was quite a variable wind from the south west, but it was between 10 and 11 degrees, so the frequent light showers weren't a big deal.
It was too windy to fish the far bank (16m) so I plumbed up a line around 13m at the bottom of the far shelf.
Within 5 minutes I had a small tench of around 8oz, and this rate of bites continued for the whole day! I was fishing my own flavoured pellet at dead depth under one of Davy Smith's 0.1g floats with a size 16 Drennan wide gape.
I had planned to fish 10:00 to 15:00, but ended up staying 'till 16:30
3 tench, 20 stockies, 5 big F1's of 4lb+, and another 38 carp of 1lb-3lb (F1's, Commons and Mirrors).
3 Tench 1lb
20 Stockie Carp 10lb
5 Big F1s 20lb
38 1-3 (say 2lb avg) 72lb
What an awesome day - easily my biggest ever haul. Keepnets are only allowed during a match, so all the weights are estimates, but I'd bet the numbers above are on the light side........
And I had a witness, Tommy L who was running the fishery on Thursday.
I'd be very surprised if the ton mark doesn't happen in a match on the Island sometime this year.
And from about 15:00 on there were fish topping all over the place - just like summer :-)
No doubt my next match will be a tough one.............
Sunday 19 February 2012
B Division - Woodside Pond - Sat 19th February
After Wednesday's Big Blank, I was hoping for a better day in the latest of the B Division Matches at Magiscroft.
Once again, I managed to draw P4 on the Woodside, which I wasn't too happy with, but at least I would be out of the biting North Westerly that was gusting hard.
The match was scheduled to start at 11AM, so after plumbing up 3 separate lines, the all-in is called and we're off!.
Within 30 minutes, I knew it was going to be a tough day - I eventually got my first bite 1.5 hours into the match (6.5 biteless hours of fishing!!!) and land a 4oz carp from the far shelf, which is followed by another 15 minutes later - all this while the snow was falling fast, and the wind had picked up, even on my sheltered peg.
I persisted targeting carp with various flavours of pellet with no further bites - I also tried sweet corn on all 3 lines, but nothing.
So the it was on to targeting silvers, which got me 2 small chub and a solitary 1oz roach.
As the weather had gotten really bad, it was decided to finish the match one hour early at 15:00, and wouldn't you know it, at 14:55, the sun came out. But I was glad to stop early as I was having trouble holding my pole, so cold were my hands.
I weighed in a paltry 15oz - Last in my section and not very happy :-(
Fishing wise, for me January was a feast, February certainly looks like famine!
Once again, I managed to draw P4 on the Woodside, which I wasn't too happy with, but at least I would be out of the biting North Westerly that was gusting hard.
The match was scheduled to start at 11AM, so after plumbing up 3 separate lines, the all-in is called and we're off!.
Within 30 minutes, I knew it was going to be a tough day - I eventually got my first bite 1.5 hours into the match (6.5 biteless hours of fishing!!!) and land a 4oz carp from the far shelf, which is followed by another 15 minutes later - all this while the snow was falling fast, and the wind had picked up, even on my sheltered peg.
I persisted targeting carp with various flavours of pellet with no further bites - I also tried sweet corn on all 3 lines, but nothing.
So the it was on to targeting silvers, which got me 2 small chub and a solitary 1oz roach.
As the weather had gotten really bad, it was decided to finish the match one hour early at 15:00, and wouldn't you know it, at 14:55, the sun came out. But I was glad to stop early as I was having trouble holding my pole, so cold were my hands.
I weighed in a paltry 15oz - Last in my section and not very happy :-(
Fishing wise, for me January was a feast, February certainly looks like famine!
Wednesday 15 February 2012
The Big Blank
After a relaxing week in the sun, it was back to work on Monday and back to the Island Pond today. With a forecast of 10 degrees and a medium wind, I was looking forward to getting back to fishing.
There were 13 of us today and I drew peg 25, which I was quickly informed, had produced no fish during Sunday's match - this sounds good to me as expect that the fish once again will be on the move.
Today I have my usual Oxo and fish sauce pellets with a new addition of cinnamon in 4 and 6mm sizes.
The all-in is called at 10:30 but after 2 hours with no sign of a bite, I'm beginning to wonder what to try next....
I even resorted to trying to catch small roach, but the all-out is called at 15:30 and it's a big blank. On my side of the pond only 1 angler catches anyting - 5 of us blank.
A blank is a match where no fish are landed - a big blank is a match were no bites are registered - thankfully quite un-common so far!
Congrats go to Douglas Phillips who takes an easy win with 10lbs +
Full results can be found here.
So not much more to say except that it was a pleasant day to be outside and you can't win them all :-)
Wednesday 1 February 2012
'Workshy Wednesday' Match - Magiscroft's Top Pond
As this would be my last Match for 10 days or so, I was looking forward to a pleasant days fishing on the Top Pond at Magiscroft. It's been pretty cold this week, so it was no surprise to find all the waters at the fishery covered by between 10 and 20mm of ice. But after 30 mins or so of ice breaking, we decided that the match would go ahead. Although it was still sub zero degrees, we had a cloudless sky and almost no wind, and it was quite comfortable at the water's edge with the sun on our backs.
On Sunday pegs 6,7 and 8 produced the biggest weights, so I was hoping not to draw one of these, as the fish seem to move around and what is good on one day, very rarely produces in the next match. As luck would have it, I drew P6 but at least that meant that shipping my pole back would be easy as there is a gap in the rear bank at P6.
As folk started to clear the broken ice from their swims, it became apparent that there was an ever so slight breeze that was moving the broken ice down towards the deeper end of the pond, and whilst that helped me, Derek Brady gave up before the all-in as he couldn't keep the surface ice free for any length of time.
By the time the all-in was called at 11:30, I had managed to clear approx 80% of the ice in my swim meaning I could get to the far bank, where I caught on Sunday.
Today I was using one of my own homemade floats on 0.15 main line with a 0.08 hooklength to a size 18 barbless hook. I got my first indication after 10 mins or so and netted a nice mirror carp of around a pound. So I fed 6 micro pellets - and didn't get another bite for 50 minutes, when I caught possibly the smallest common carp in the pond! I decided to feed again, and it was quickly apparent that this was a mistake, as again, I saw no more action for 40 minutes.
Which resulted in another small common, but I didn't feed this time, and I was then able to put together a run of fish, whilst losing three that decided to go under the remaining ice:-(
Bait wise, I had std expander pellets, sweet corn and my favourite Oxo pellets - all of which I tried, but only the Oxo pellets got fish interested.
Around 15:15, as the sun went down a bit, the temp dropped sharply and that was it for me - I reckoned on somewhere between 8 & 10lbs, which from what I could see, would put me in contention.
So the all-out was called at 16:00 and I weighed in 10lbs - 8oz, which was enough to win the match from Alan Hird with 4lbs - 8oz and Rikki Miller with 3lbs - 8oz.
Full results can be found here.
Given the results this year, I'm pretty convinced that the big difference is the various additives that i've tried in conjunction with expander pellets. It seems that a 'salty type' flavour works best - pellets are fishmeal based - imagine the difference in taste between your favourite fish or steak, one with salt and one without - maybe not a great analogy, but you get the idea………
I know I've been fortunate with drawing decent pegs, but I've still managed to get the fish out. Looking back, since the 1st of January I have managed 4 wins and 2 thirds, with a couple of 4th as well.
After only 12 weeks with my pole, I have to be happy with that.
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