Saturday, 30 January 2016

30 January 2016, Middle Lake (Gold Valley)

Despite an intense bout of ‘man flu’ during the week I somehow managed to pass a late fitness test and it was soon time to load-up the car with a mountain of unnecessary fishing gear and head-off to Gold Valley for another go at winter fishing bingo ...
  
Next to Will Raison, who was 13 pegs away!
  
  
  
There were only eight of us fishing today and the way the venue (Middle Lake) was pegged meant that half of the pegs in the bag would be corner pegs and half wouldn’t – basically 50:50 odds of drawing a flyer! However I made the fatal mistake of joining the queue immediately behind England international Will Raison and immediately in front of ‘lucky’ Luke Sherriff, so with hindsight it’s no surprise that the sequence of pegs drawn was: 61 (corner peg, flyer), 75 (open water, Bob Hope and no hope), 85 (corner peg, flyer)!!!
  
In all fairness my draw (75) put me just to the left of where Giovanni Barbato had won from last week with a cracking bag of skimmers, and as there were only 4 anglers on each bank I had 13 spare pegs to my left as I was actually next to Will Raison (who was on 61).
  
Hopefully after having learned a thing or two from last week’s match (where I went for a one rod approach and had nowhere to go later in the match) I decided to cover three lines today: straight lead/PVA feeder to the central rope for carp, 13m of pole straight in front for skimmers and a line at 13m to my left (but effectively at 5m had I been sat on peg 74) for carp.
  
Liners, but no pulls in the first hour
  
I started my match by feeding 20 or so grains of corn and a ball of micros on my 5m line, quickly followed by two full pots of soaked micros (with a few expanders) at 13m in front (I only planned to feed this line once so I fed a decent amount of gear).
  
I then went straight onto the 5m line with single corn looking for an early carp – I did have two or three indications, though at the time I wasn’t sure if these were caused by the weight of the corn dragging the float under or small fish having a peck. After five minutes (which upon reflection may have been a little hasty) I switched to the straight lead with a Ringers chocolate orange wafter cast towards central rope – this did result in a few liners, but unfortunately no proper pulls, so I ended the first hour fishless (not ideal as in previous matches most of my weight had come in the first 60 minutes).
  
Winter essentials
  
At the start of the second hour I changed over to a 36g Hybrid feeder with a PVA bag full of 4mm hard pellets smeared with tutti frutti Goo attached – some promising liners started to appear after 15 minutes, but just as I started praying for a proper pull they disappeared!!!
  
As a result I decided to have an earlier than hoped for look on the 13m pole line with a 4mm expander. (The rig used here consisted of yellow Hydro, 0.13 mainline, a 0.2g SconeZone V8, 5 number 10 stotz spread evenly between 20 and 40cm from hook, and a 15cm hooklength of 0.10 to a size 18 Tubertini 808.) To my amazement I had a nice skimmer first drop, followed by another bite on the next put in. Unfortunately this second fish fell-off just after being hooked – this really seemed to upset this line so I decided to switch back to the straight lead again allow some skimmers to regroup. As luck would have it I had a screaming pull after a just few minutes (on a chocolate orange wafter), the result being a nice 5lb carp in net.
 
    
No bites on the micro pellet feeder
  
Just prior to the start of the third hour a terribly strong left to right wind started to blow down the length of the lake, turning the previously calm Middle Lake into something resembling an Atlantic swell. So whilst I really wanted to get back on the 13m pole line I literally could not hold pole at that length – when I could hold it I had little control over the float meaning I was unable to generate any bites from the shoal of skimmers I was sure was feeding over my soaked micro pellets.
  
Out of frustration I tried fishing over this line with a 24g Guru micro pellet feeder (short X-Safe stem fitted with white Hydro, 10cm hooklength of 0.17 to a size 16 QM1 with a 6mm pellet hard pellet on a hair-rigged pellet band) but couldn’t be sure I was being accurate enough with my casting and had no signs as a result. With no other option I returned to fishing the straight lead to the rope (though I had to swap to a once ounce lead in order to have any chance of getting the rig to land even remotely close to where I was aiming for) but such tactics where fruitless.
  
The Malman Roob
  
When the wind allowed I’d continued to trickle a little bit of bait onto my 5m line and at about 13:30 it eased enough for me to have another go at this line with a single grain of corn (the rig used here consisted of black Hydro, 0.17 mainline, a 4x14 Malman Roob shotted with a spread bulk of number 9 stotz and a 15cm hooklength of 0.13 to a size 16 LWG (eyed) attached with a Palomar knot).
  
The float immediately dipped and I cursed my luck as I lifted into nothingness – luckily a few minutes later the float dipped again and this time I felt the reassuring weight of a decent carp attached to the other end of my rig. After a good scrap another 5 or 6 pounder was soon in the net and I was left to reflect that I’d made the right choice in going for black Hydro (as opposed to the lighter white Hydro that is often recommended at this time of year). No further bites followed from this 5m line but a switch to the 13m line in front produced another nice skimmer, though once again the wind was up and down and holding the pole was a real struggle.
  
Looking towards 'lucky' Luke Sherriff on one of the corner pegs
  
Heading into the fifth hour I decided to fish the 13m pole line when I could, have a dabble on the 5m line now and again, and basically fish the straight lead to the rope when I couldn’t hold the pole! In the end no further bites came from the 5m line or the straight lead, though I did hook a carp on the 13m skimmer line (which was probably on the other side of the rope when the hook eventually pulled-out), so the only fish to hit the net in the final 60 minutes was another nice skimmer from the same line.
  
Trainspotting
  
In the end my two carp and three chunky skimmers went 16-4-0, not a huge weight but to put things in context Will Raison ‘only’ landed six carp for 30lb from what can be one of the best corner pegs on the complex – a tally that I feel was well within my grasp had the wind allowed me to hold the pole properly enough to sneak another carp from my 5m line and 4 or 5 more decent skimmers from the long line. (I’m still not sure if feeding micro pellets is as effective as feeding joker for skimmers, though I’m blaming the wind at the moment.)
  
Having said that, my main aim today was to give myself options outside of the straight lead or feeder – so in that sense today was a success (as most of my weight came from the pole lines), getting bites and landing a carp from my 5m line on corn especially interesting given the time of year.
  
Until next time ...
  
  

Saturday, 23 January 2016

23 January 2016, Middle Lake (Gold Valley)

Today’s open match on the Middle Lake at Gold Valley saw 13 anglers spread around both banks of the lake (which must hold a good forty pegs), so if nothing else we all had plenty of room! The weather on the day was pretty decent (mild for the time of year, mainly foggy will some welcome sunny spells), though the lake would’ve been frozen solid during the week and the water was very, very clear – something I’m kind of used to from fishing at Marsh Farm but something that is unusual for a carp filled commercial such as Gold Valley, even in the depths of winter.
  
Rather foggy at times today
  
  
  
My draw saw me on peg 89 for the day – not a noted peg (which would be the corners and the pegs where the island used to be), but one with potential given the spare pegs either side. Prior to the all-in I once again settled on a single rod, carp only approach with no plan B (more of which later), the tactic that served me pretty well on my previous visit to Gold Valley just after Christmas.

To this end I set-up my usual 10’ tip rod (the chuck to the central rope was no more than 30m, much less than the distance I had to cast on Gold Lake previously) with 6lb Daiwa Sensor and 90cm of 10lb Drennan fluorocarbon (to hopefully disguise the part of the rig immediately above the lead or feeder). The main plan of attack was to fish this with a Guru 19g inline lead (fitted with a short X-Safe stem and black Hydro) to 30cm of 0.19 Guru N-Gauge to a size 12 QM1 with a hair-rigged pellet band – the main hookbait was going to be some of the 10mm Ringers chocolate orange wafters that worked so well last time out.
   
The sun did come out now and again
  
The first hour of the match started really well - after casting straight in front, 5m short of the central rope (so I could go a bit closer later if I needed to), I had a big liner first cast (that I was absolutely convinced was a properly hooked fish until I picked-up into nothingness), then a real bite just over a minute into the second cast. This saw a nice 10lb carp in the net, a Ringers chocholate orange wafter doing the damage once again, and I was off to a flying start! The third cast saw more liners, followed by a proper pull after six minutes and a 6lb carp in the net - ding dong!!! No indications on the next cast (all casts so far had been on the straight lead, no feed) so I switched to a 24g small Hybrid feeder with a PVA bag of 6 & 4mm pellets and a dash of tutti frutti Goo - this was the effective combination from my last match at Gold Valley but with the water being so clear I soon decided that this wasn't the way to go today as the feeder must've been standing-out like a sore thumb. I then tried casting further to the left with the straight lead rig, but there were no signs of any fish there either.
  
Tried the pellet cone today
  
As things moved into the second hour I continued casting (infrequently) to the left without indications, then first cast after switching back straight in front to the original spot the rod doubled-over after 3 minutes and following a spirited battle another 6lb carp was in the net by about 11:30. Unfortunately the following 90 minutes then whizzed by without absolutely no signs of any fish action, despite trying the pellet cone with a 6mm hard pellet hookbait and trying various spots left, right and straight in front.
  
I eventually got the pole out of the bag
  
All the while I was sitting twiddling my thumbs waiting for a pull on the tip I could see bagging machine Giovanni Barbato opposite landing skimmer after skimmer from his long pole line - the longer things went on the more I regretted not covering the same option from the off myself until I eventually got the pole out of the bag with 90 minutes to go. I knew it was probably too late but I fed some micros and dead maggots at 13m after setting-up a rig suitable for skimmers (yellow Hydro, 0.13 mainline, 4x14 Chimp, 0.10 hooklength into a Tubertini 808 size 18). Unfortunately, despite rotating between the straight lead and the long pole, I couldn’t generate a bite on either so the final three and a half hours of my match was fishless!!!
  
G with his winning bag of skimmers
  
In the end my three carp went 22-12-0, just out of the money as I was pipped for the section by Chris Bessant on peg 87 to my left (who landed four carp for 26-12-0). I was also fourth overall, miles behind G's winning 53lb, but in theory only one carp (or a few good skimmers) behind the 35lb that took second place. (For a write-up of Giovanni's match see the Apollo Guildford Match Team Facebook page here.)
  
Until next time ...
  
  

Sunday, 3 January 2016

03 January 2016, Richardson's Lake (Marsh Farm)

Read on for one of my best ever blogs!
  
The calm before the storm!
  
  
  
Only joking - today's match was called-off at the halfway point with everybody blanking and getting absolutely soaked by torrential rain!!! Roll-on summer!!!
  
Until next time ...