Sunday 8 March 2020

2020 Winter Campaign (Gold Valley)

Now that the dust has settled on my so-called '2020 winter campaign' (a series of matches at Gold Valley including the 2020 Rushmoor League and the All Winners Final) I thought I'd try and capture some of the highs and lows ...

Time for some prep

Rushmoor League Rounds 1, 2 and 3: Not exactly a great start to this blog as for one reason or another I had to miss the first three rounds of the 2020 Rushmoor League! Anyway, this meant plenty of time for some much needed prep, and keeping an eye on the results I could see that the fishing was tough (we are talking about fishing in January after all) but there were well deserved individual victories for Paul Garrett, Jeb Attwood and Pete Arnold.

Peg 47 on Gold Lake

Rushmoor League Round 4 (26/01): My first match for a couple of months so it was all I could do to actually set-up my box facing the water! Things actually started quite well with a nice F1 first cast on the hybrid feeder, but normal service soon resumed as the next four hours were biteless. The final hour saw a tiny skimmer and a bigger sample hit the net from a long pole line, but a lost carp from the same line in the dying seconds pretty much summed things up. My 4-2-0 did actually generate 2 points for my new Home Counties team, but that was only because one of the pegs in my section wasn't drawn. (Congratulations to one William Raison for taking-out the match with 78-4-0 from peg 138 on the Syndicate Lake.)

Peg 110 on Syndicate Lake

Rushmoor League Round 5 (02/02): Peg 110 on the Syndicate Lake, a decent but not spectacular draw, but at least I had the wind off my back. My pre-match plan was to nick the odd carp on running line tactics in the first three hours before bagging-up on some nice juicy skimmers on the long pole towards the end - well so much for that plan! The first two hours whizzed by without so much of a liner, so taking on board some good advice from team-mate Steve Doyle I decided to have a quick look down the edge for some silvers. First drop saw a nice four ounce roach in the net (blank avoided), second drop saw me attached to something a bit bigger, but a lifetime and 6 miles of yellow Hydro later I was staring at a fin perfect 15lb mirror carp!

Say hello to my little friend

Next drop led to a nice 8 ounce hybrid, quickly followed by a few smaller roach before carp number two entered the fray – this one decided to bottom me out before shredding my hooklength, so it was time to step-up my gear a bit. Over the next 90 minutes I went on to land five more big carp, though I certainly lost control of this line in the final hour, losing at least three more, no doubt due to overfeeding and possibly (ironically) having too many big fish in the swim.

In the final 10 minutes I dropped onto my long pole line and I was into a seventh and final carp immediately – with hindsight I really wish that I’d switched to this line as soon as the margin line went funny, but it still amazes me that you can catch a fish so quickly from a line that you haven’t fed for 4 hours and 50 minutes!!!

Maybe lightning does strike twice

In the end my 7 carp and 2-12-0 of silvers went an even 84-0-0, ahead of Ian Dixon’s 70-12-0 and Jon Radford’s 54-4-0, enough to claim the day and a second individual Rushmoor League victory in 3 years.

Peg 136 on Syndicate Lake

Saturday Open Match (22/02): After a couple of weekends off (thanks to Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis) it was time to get back on the bank for a well attended open match around the whole of the Syndicate Lake. I had hoped to draw on the near side, but as luck would have it I drew on the far bank and hence had a strong wind in my face all day long - though for company I had the mighty Paul Holland to my left and England international Mark Eves to my right, so that was going to make things interesting. Or not! The fishing was incredibly tough, but two carp and a skimmer from a margin line got me to 24-12-0, which was somehow good enough for third overall behind Adrian Harris (26lb) and the ever consistent Jeb Attwood (32lb).

Peg 121 on Syndicate Lake

Rushmoor League Round 6 (23/02): After a couple of good results confidence was high and I was quite pleased to draw Syndicate 121, though it was a different story come 4 o'clock when I'd blanked! Blankety blank, cheque book and pen. (Not only that, but I was the only angler out of 50 to blank on the day.) I didn't mind getting hammered by Will Raison to my right (he was an end peg on the day and had a long margin to cast along), but John Light on 122 also kicked my arse with a fantastic display of rod and line fishing that I just can't get to grips with at the moment. (Congratulations to Ian Dixon on winning the day from Syndicate 101.)

Peg 128 on Syndicate Lake

Sunday Open Match (01/03): Yet another windy day, once again on the far bank of Syndicate (peg 128 to be precise) and once again the wind was in my face all day long!!! Much to my amazement I actually caught a carp on running line (bomb & big meat) tactics second chuck, though even more amazingly that carp and another caught down the edge in the final quarter of an hour went 13-4-0, enough to get me second overall on a very, very tough day. (Stefan Gent winning the match by miles with 28lb.)

Peg 134 on Syndicate Lake

2020 All Winners Final (08/03): With this match being spread across Gold, Middle and Syndicate lakes I was either hoping to draw on Middle Lake (as I thought the match would be won from here) or on the near bank of Syndicate Lake (as I wanted to escape a fourth match in a row in a face-on gale) - so obviously I drew the far bank of Syndicate once again! Peg 134 isn't really that great, but I had a bit of room and a nice looking margin to the left so you never know. Unfortunately there were no signs of carp on running line or from that margin, but at one stage I did get into a nice run of skimmers on the long pole - disappointingly they soon came and went, though when I weighed 9-0-0 I thought I had an outside chance of scraping third place in the silvers pool, but that wasn't to be as on the day you needed 15lb plus for that. (Congratulations to Paul Holland on winning from Middle Lake with 75-8-0.)

Pointless selfie

So there you go - one blank and two other blow-outs, but a couple of framing places and another individual victory in the Rushmoor League. The weather has been pretty rubbish (well windy anyway) but you have to be in it to win - see you on the bank sometime ...


Sunday 1 July 2018

01 July 2018, Middle Lake (Gold Valley)

Well I think it is fair to say I made a right pig's ear of that one, only really figuring-out what I should've been doing ten minutes from the end!
   
Round-up the usual suspects
   
My home for the day was Gold Valley, Middle Lake 63 a peg that can be really good as it is in among the where the islands used to be - with the water level being quite low I actually found a spot at 14.5m slightly to the right that was just 12" deep, though in the main it was hard to find more than two and a half feet anywhere in the peg. I started on paste at top kit plus one and expected to get off to a good start but after 15 minutes I was biteless and giving the 12" swim a dabble earlier than expected - I could get bites here but they were very dodgy and I ended-up losing a frustrating number of fish.
   
All the gear ...
   
All the time I'd been feeding 4mm hard pellets at 13m slightly to the left with the aim of catching shallow - this did work to a certain extent but after 90 minutes of feeding, tapping and slapping my jigga I had to sack it off as it just wasn't working well enough. (There were plenty of fish in the peg but they seemed preoccupied routing around in the silt and sending-up blooms of the black stuff every few minutes.)
   
Nice day for it
   
With little option I returned to the 12" swim and I eventually caught a few on a 4.5mm expander over potted micros and 4mm hard pellets, though as the match progressed the number of missed bites and lost fish went through the roof with the fish seemingly coming-up in the water despite it being just a foot deep! I tried my best to keep them on the deck but they just weren't having it, so towards the end I switched to fishing just 5" deep and it was one a bung!!!
   
Plenty of sun today
   
In the end I limped home with 58 fish for a level 55lb, one out of the money as Dan Cooper took the section with 69-8-0 - well done to Craig Meadows on the win and Giovanni Barbato on taking second spot. If only I'd have switched to fishing super-shallow a little earlier!
   

Sunday 24 June 2018

24 June 2018, Top Lake (Willinghurst)

Day two of the Angling for Heroes mini-festival and I've only gone and drawn the same peg again! Having learned some harsh lessons yesterday I was able to fish a much simpler match today, putting 99-6-0 on the scales, just short of the 100lb barrier but comfortably ahead of the 75lb that was second.

Nice bucket
   
This left me on 4 points, just a point and 30lb short of finishing second overall, something I could've managed on day one if I'd had gotten my act together a bit sooner (easily said with hindsight of course). I'll sign-off by saying a massive well done to my partner in crime Claire 'Bagger' Hollis who not only won the first day with a whopping 130lb but smashed the festival by being the only angler to finish with a perfect 2 point score - what a superstar!!!
  
Caption competition time!
   
Until next time ...

Saturday 23 June 2018

23 June 2018, Top Lake (Willinghurst)

Day one of the two-day Angling for Heroes mini-festival, my home for the day being Top Lake peg 8, a pretty average peg in the main bowl. Having not fished for a few weeks, and having not fished for proper carp since the Guru festival at White Acres I was pretty rusty and spent at least half of the match fishing the wrong methods!
  
A nice photo
  
Saying that I somehow managed to put 56-8-0 on the scales, a reasonable return that got me third in section, just 2lb short of second - mildly annoying!!!
   

Saturday 2 June 2018

02 June 2018, Middle Lake (Gold Valley)

Another great day at Gold Valley yesterday for a WC Group Coaching day with Will Raison and Callum Dicks, this time with a focus on catching F1s shallow on Middle Lake. Without giving too much away lets just say it was a brilliant session with loads learned and loads of fish caught!!!
   
More satisfied customers
   

Saturday 26 May 2018

26 May 2018, Middle Lake (Gold Valley)

Well it was back to Gold Valley today for the charity fundraiser for the England ladies team - I think that over £2k was raised so well done to all involved, especially Sam Sim and the team at Gold. With 104 taking part the pegging was always going to be tight, and with Middle Lake our of sorts, like most I was hoping for a bit of room on a big fish lake so of course I drew 70 on Middle!
   
Roll-up, roll-up!
   
With half of the match gone I was convinced I was going to blank, so to end with 2 perch and the 5 smallest F1s in the lake for 3-6-0 was actually a relief! (In the end it was the wind the really impacted the weights, personally I struggled to hold 5m of pole so getting out to the required 14.5/16m was impossible.) Anyway it was a nice day out and we won a bottle of wine in the raffle so can’t complain!!!
   

Friday 18 May 2018

18 May 2018, Trelawney (White Acres)

White Acres, Guru festival day 5 todday, another distinctly average peg in Trelawney 29 being my home for the day. I started by nicking a nice carp from in front of peg 30’s platform in the first five minutes then after a quick dabble on the short pole and feeder it was time to start spraying casters and fishing the long pole shallow for those pesky F1s.
 
Nice and sunny to the left
 
I gave it a good go for two hours and whilst I caught quite a few I knew I was lagging behind Tony Evans and Craig Meadows to my right and both of the anglers to my left so I decided to sack it off and focus on fishing to the vacant platform in the hope of catching some proper carp. This worked well for 90 minutes though another poor last hour left me on a slightly frustrating 65-9-0 for 6 points, miles behind Steve Clark but tantalisingly close to Phil Canning and Bryan Travis who weighed 75 and 76 pounds from the two end pegs.