Saturday, 18 July 2015

18 July 2015, Middle Lake (Gold Valley)

I was going to start this blog by saying how ‘industrial’ Gold Valley seems when compared to lots of other venues. Then I started to think – well is it? Gold Valley’s cause isn’t helped by the fact that they were knocking down the bungalow that gave Bungalow Lake its name today – however Sumners Ponds is good looking enough but full of rats; Twin Oaks and Bolingey at White Acres have both had work done and seem a little ‘lunar’ at the moment; so that only leaves Marsh Farm – picturesque but at times seemingly devoid of fish!!!
  
Bungalow no more!
  
Today’s fishing saw a return to Gold Valley for the Saturday open – not the usual stellar field, but still a pretty strong line-up of about twenty including top southern anglers such as Ian Dixon and Paul ‘Tommy’ Hiller of Daiwa Dorking fame.
  
All the gear ...
  
  
  
This event was held on the causeway bank of Middle Lake and my dip into the bag of dreams threw-up peg 69 – pretty much in the middle of the bank with Tommy Hiller on peg 70 to my right. Now that the islands have been taken out most of the pegs on this lake look the same – basically 30 or 40 yards of open water until you hit the central rope that divides one half of the lake from the other.
  
One of the new Guru Hybrid feeders
  
Having plenty of time to set-up I decided to put together a rod and no less than five different pole rigs: my usual 10’ tip rod with 8lb Daiwa Sensor main line with a loop in the end so I could swap between different Guru X-Safe gizmos (method feeders, the new Hybrid feeders and in-line leads); a rig for on the deck at top kit plus one; a rig for on the deck at 14.5m; and three further rigs for shallow at 14.5m – a long lining shallow rig featuring a 0.4g Drennan crystal dibber, a 2’ jigga and a 4’ jigga (both featuring the heavier form of the Preston Innovations version of the cult float). However on plumbing-up the 14.5m line I discovered it was no more than 3’ deep meaning my ‘deep shallow’ jigga rig was a foot over-depth – next time I’ll check the depth before getting my shallow rigs out!!!
  
The view to the left
  
Unfortunately the first 90 minutes proved to be a little underwhelming – all of the carp that were cruising about disappeared on the whistle and all I could muster were three small skimmers (one on the method to the rope, one from 14.5m and one from the short line).
  
A carp at last!
  
The next hour was a bit better though as it included a spell on one of the new Guru Hybrid feeders where I managed a carp and three decent skimmers in five chucks on Bait-Tech micro pop-up hookbaits – though I continued to struggle on the pole (which I had expected to be the banker today).
  
The view to the right
  
With a couple of hours to go I decided to start feeding my tip line with 8mm pellets via a catapult (up until this point the fishing had been so hard I was scared to feed hardly anything) – as the wind was slightly behind me I could just about get them to the rope with a good whack! Along with a switch from the Hybrid feeder to a two thirds of an ounce in-line lead with 12 inches of 0.17 N-Gauge (later swapped to 0.19) to a size 14 QM1 with a hair-rigged pellet band, this more positive approach saw four good pulls on the tip and three carp (including a double) in the net – the other one went rights and kept going, eventually falling-off about three pegs down!!!
  
At least the ducks like Old Ghost groundbait!
  
Going into the final hour I did set-up another pole rig and fed some groundbait into my left hand margin – as it was only 10 inches deep I knew it was unlikely to work but it was worth a gamble and same fish did eventually turn-up, 5 minutes after the final whistle!!! I did though manage three more carp on the tip meaning I ended-up with seven carp and few skimmers for 46-0-0, just two carp behind Tommy’s nine – though his came from the margins and went eighty odd pounds!!!
  
Until next time …
  
  

Friday, 10 July 2015

10 July, Richardson's Lake (Marsh Farm)

Time for something different this weekend! Rather than the usual Sunday fishing outing I decided to have a go at one of the Friday evening matches at Marsh Farm, leaving the whole of Saturday and Sunday free for DIY and housework – and if you believe that you’ll believe anything!!!
  
Author selfie
  
Over recent years the Apollo Marsh Farm tackle shop has organised the Apollomania series on Friday evening during June and July – however this year has seen a change and instead there have been Friday evening (1800-2100) open matches instead with some pretty big weights of mainly margin caught tench, crucians and skimmers.
  
Richardsons' Lake, peg 11 today
   
  
  
My home for the evening would be peg 11 on Richardson’s Lake – I can’t remember having drawn this peg before, but essentially it is on the outside of a bend and faces a gap between two of three of the central islands. Normally I’d be quite happy with such a draw as it offers lots of water to go at compared to the average – however today I was a little disappointed as the margins didn’t seem very fishy! To the left a combination of the curvature of the bank and a reed bed meant I could fish no further along than a top kit; to the right I could reach as far as a top kit plus one but a very, very steep slope coming away from the bank meant I had to fish three or four feet from the marginal cover where this initial slope levelled-out.
  
Regular readers of this blog will know that I normally present an hour-by-hour breakdown of how I ruined yet another flyer – however today I’m going to go tactic-by-tactic, not that I really caught much on the feeder, at top kit plus two or down the edge!!!
  
The view slightly to the left
  
Over the years I’ve had my fair share of success on the feeder at Marsh Farm, so even though I aimed to catch on the pole today I had to set one up! The rules at Marsh Farm stipulate running rigs only so I wasn’t able to use any of my now standard Guru X-Safe feeders – instead I reverted back to the old favourite 30g small Preston Innovations pellet feeder and later a 24g Guru method (without the X-Safe system). Regardless it didn’t seem to make any difference as despite fishing the tip for the first 30 minutes and trying it regularly throughout, the only time the tip went ‘round was when a tufty duck bombed my far bank line looking for free pellets!!!
  
The gap between the islands to the right
  
My second line was at top kit plus two on the pole straight in front – as I expected the fishing to be good I stepped-up from my usual gear to a 4x12 KC Carpa Force on 0.15 main line to an 0.11 hooklength to a size 18 LWG, elastic being white Hydro. Bait for this approach was loose-fed caster with a tiny amount of 6mm meat – not that it really mattered as all it produced was a raft of tiny roach and just two half decent skimmers!!!
  

I really needed to catch from here!!!
  
The third and final line (and the one I really needed to work) was the margins – as mentioned above however neither side was ideal and I ended-up focussing on the right hand side, fishing three or four feet from the bank at the bottom of the top shelf. (As it was still two and a half feet deep here I used the same rig components as for the top kit plus two line.) At this point I’d love to be able to describe how I put together a match winning run of tinca tincas from this edge swim, but the unfortunate reality is that I could only muster three small tench and shed load of weightless micro perch, leaving me with a measly 9-8-0 for third in the match – and that was only because angler number four couldn’t be bothered to weigh-in!!!
  
Until next time …
  
  

Sunday, 5 July 2015

05 July 2015, Old Lake (Willinghurst)

There has been a great deal of talk in the angling press recently on the topic of gardening (the pruning of excessive foliage to make your swim more accessible) and I seem to recall a young lad missed-out on qualifying for this year’s Fish’O’Mania final after being disqualified after the match for having waded into his peg and removing a fair chunk of a bankside reed bed. So why am I introducing today’s blog in such a fashion? Well, whilst I was setting-up for today’s match on the Old Lake at Willinghurst I heard a very strange and confusing noise – when I turned and looked towards the adjacent Top Lake I couldn’t believe my eyes as there was a chap standing there with a rechargeable hedge trimmer happily hacking away at his peg!!!
  
Looking towards the far bank of Old Lake
  
Today’s match was a small (10 peg) open at Willinghurst. I’ve only been there a couple of times – the first was a pleasure session on the Horseshoe Lake over ten years ago; the second two years ago when I drew the ‘Bung Hole’ on the Top Lake and somehow contrived to win a very tight match. However today’s match was on the Old Lake so when I drew peg 8 it didn’t really mean anything!
  
Overhead view of Old Lake (right)
  
  
  
Old Lake has about 25 pegs and is a good looking venue with lots of lush foliage. The north end of the lake is quite narrow so despite having permanent pegs on both sides only one bank is normally included in a match, conversely the southern end is more of a bowl so there are normally anglers facing each other on either side.
  
Luke Sheriff and Martin Johnson in action
  
Peg 8 essentially sots where the two parts of the lake join and I was the first angler not to be double-banked. I could just about reach the platform opposite with a good chuck of a feeder on my 10’ tip rod and I was told there was a shallow gravel bar running along the centre of the peg. I decided to investigate for myself and the information was indeed correct – casting down the middle with a decent lead saw no ‘drop’ whatsoever (as soon as the lead hit the water it seemed to hit the bottom) and a slow retrieve saw a distinct tap, tap, tap as the lead danced across the stony bar.
  
Bright baits played their part today
  
It is worth noting at this stage that matches are normally a bit of a marathon at Willinghurst – this match was scheduled for 1030-1700 but as everybody was ready we started early at ten fifteen!!! In all fairness the first three and three quarter hours were pretty slow – I could only manage a roach and a foul-hooked gudgeon on 8mm pellets on the short pole, and just one carp and a few skimmers on the method/bomb atop the shallow central bar. A few chucks on the method to the platform opposite were fruitless so out of desperation I tried the jigga 13m – this only led to another skimmer and a lost carp but kept me amused for an hour or so! (In hindsight it was almost certainly too shallow to fish shallow and I can’t see this ever being a productive tactic on this lake.)
  
Waiting for a pull
  
The period from two o’clock until three thirty was better however – seven good pulls on the tip over the shallow bar saw three carp and a good skimmer in the net, plus three more carp that disappeared into the ether! (Though at least I’d boosted my weight from twelve to thirty pounds.) Luckily the final 90 minutes were pretty blockbuster – I fed two margin lines with groundbait but didn’t get to try them properly as it was at times literally one a bung on the straight lead with carp turning-up in numbers and ripping the rod off the rest within thirty seconds of the rig landing on the shallow bar. This late run boosted my total to 73-0-0, not quite good enough but fairly close to Mark ‘Cano’ Cain’s winning 105-0-0, Mick Keeper’s second placed 92-0-0 and Martin Johnson’s 87-8-0 for third.
  
Until next time …