Thursday 20 September 2012

20 September 2012, Pollawyn (White Acres)

This was our third trip of the year to White Acres - but we know we are going to have a good time so why not?

After a few nice pleasure sessions on Pollawyn, Jenny's and Bolingey it was soon time for the Thursday rover - I drew number 24 (out of 132) so I was able to get on the high bank of Pollawyn and chose peg 18 as I'd fished there on Saturday and bagged-up (though there were only 4 or 5 of us on the whole lake that day).

Some of the new Preston pellet wagglers

As this match is effectively a 'winner takes all' sort of match (everybody who weighs in gets a prize, but there is no section money) I knew I had to fish positively and risk a blow-out in order to get my name in the Angling Times! As a result I only set-up a pellet waggler and a straight lead rod at the beginning - I was using one of the new Preston pellet wagglers and I have to say those little plastic disks attached above the weights really do stop the float diving as it hits the water!

Pellet waggler rig components

The pellet waggler in question was attached to the line using a Preston pellet waggler attachment kit (which consist of 4 float stops and a snap link swivel) - mainline was 6lb Daiwa Sensor and the hooklength 25cm of 0.19 Reflo Power into a size 16 Guru Pellet Waggler hook with a hair-rigged 3.2mm Gardener latex bait band.

The pegs on the high bank of Pollawyn are fairly deep (8-10') and it is common to catch carp 'deep shallow' so I mainly set my pellet waggler between 3 and 5 feet deep. Unfortunately the fish hadn't read the script and even though I bagged-up with such a set-up on Saturday I only had one carp on it all match!!!

Luckily the straight lead was more effective and I took 4 carp in total on this rod, fished under where I was constantly feeding to try and catch on the waggler.

I seem to spend more and more time fishing bright pop-ups

After it had become apparent I wasn't going to catch enough on the pellet waggler or straight lead I set-up another rod with a 30g small Preston pellet feeder to fish with an 8mm pop-up tight to the island. I really didn't think it would work - but that just goes to show what I know! This proved to be my most productive line and I caught 7 or 8 good carp, some nice skimmers and a barbel on it!!!

This line eventually died and I effectively wasted between 1400 and 1500 fishing like a gnome and putting nothing in the net during what should've been the best part of the match. When I finally came to my senses I decided to set-up a pole rig to bash-out some roach and perch down the edge with a fairly light rig on a top kit plus 1 - after a few nice perch I was soon attached to something that pulled back and I was soon looking at a 10lb ghostie staring back at me from my landing net!!!

Part of my winnings!

The whistle went and Rob was soon along doing the weighing - my fish totalled 71-15-0, enough for a bag of groundbait, a bag of pellets and the final money prize as I'd managed 8th overall. That wasted hour had really cost me as another 12lb or so and I would've been second - but if it was as easy as that we'd all be winning every week!

Congratulations to Tom Bainbridge who won the match with 104-7-0 on the long pole from peg 29 on Pollawyn - he caught 'deep shallow' pinging 8mm pellets and admitted to winning despite having a massive hang-over! Kevin Wingfield (who is also a regular on the festival now sponsored by Old English Cider) did well to finish third with 82-3-0, just 5 ounces behind Mick Longshaw who was second.

Monday 3 September 2012

02 September 2012, Richardson's Lake (Marsh Farm)

Second match in a row on Richardson's Lake at Marsh Farm, and I found myself just along from where I was last time (peg 33) as I was on peg 29 today.

Lines fished today

Essentially I swapped between 2 feeder lines tight into the far bank trees and 2 top kit plus 4 pole lines (pellet only to the left, groundbait to the right).

Unlike last week only about 20% of my catch was on the pole, and the majority of fish caught on the pole were 2-4 ounce skimmers with just three bigger fish (one tench, one crucian and one better skimmer).

Pellet feeders and white pop-ups

Far and away the best approach today was the pellet feeder with a white 8mm pop-up (pinned down by 2 number 8 stotz an inch from the hook). The morning was sporadic, but a switch to casting to the right (from my initial swim straight in front) saw a golden spell that put numerous tench in the net between 1400 and 1500. (It never ceases to amaze me how casting the same feeder rig into a slightly different spot on a far bank can mean the difference between no bites and a fish a chuck.)

In the end my 29-8-0 was good enough for 4th (out of 30) - 36lb was top, with 2 other 30lb weights filling the frame.