02 December 2012, Harris Lake (Marsh Farm)

Temperatures of -4 degrees Celsius in the car on the way to the venue meant only one thing - the first ice of the season!

A frozen Harris Lake at Marsh Farm

As everybody else set about breaking the ice in their pegs with ice breakers I hatched a cunning plan - to fish a waggler OVER the ice into the patch of clear water next to the island.

YouTube video of the view from my peg

A nice ice free patch of water next to the island - surely it had to be full of fish?



My thinking was simple - why scare away all of the fish in your peg by smashing the ice when you can fish in an area that must be a lot warmer than the rest of the lake (as it wasn't frozen over)? On paper a great theory but one that was shot down in flames as I never had a bite all day!

No, they are not my hands!

In all fairness 26 out of the 32 competitors today blanked - including 2 whole sections, and in one of the other sections only one angler caught! (Don't you just love winter fishing?)

The other 5 that caught were sat in a row to my left - in what is normally the worst part of the lake and the area that everybody wants to avoid at the draw!

Those that caught today all caught after smashing the ice and feeding joker - though plenty of people fed it today and didn't catch, and those that did catch caught on pinkie or caster (as opposed to with joker or bloodworm on the hook).

Bonus YouTube video of Bagger not catching on the groundbait feeder

Let's hope next week is better!!!

18 November 2012, River Wey (Godalming AS)

On the River Wey this week - and before you ask, yes I do own a few stick floats and traditional wagglers (as well as hundreds of method feeders and pellet wagglers)!

River Wey, Godalming

I drew a nice looking peg in the Upper Common Meadow today, and despite a fairly hard frost I actually fancied it for a few fish.

The 0.4 gram Drennan alloy stick float I used today

In fact I started-off quite well (a decent run of dace and roach on the stick float with maggot) and after 90 minutes I was starting to think that heavily stocked commercials aren't the answer - then it went completely dead and I never had another bite all match!



The view from my peg as I looked upstream

In the end I weighed 1-5-0 (which was only good enough for fourth in section) and as a tramped back to the car I couldn't help day dreaming of fishing the long pole shallow for big carp on a warm summer's day!!!

04 November 2012, Broadwater (Godalming AS)

What a match - torrential rain prior to the draw very nearly saw it called-off and we were dogged by heavy showers and a biting wind throughout.

Broadwater, Godalming

To cut a long story short I caught one roach on a small 20g Kamasan Black Cap maggot feeder and a Preston hook-to-nylon that Bagger won in a White Acres rover back in September. It was very welcome and for the record weighed exactly 6 ounces!!!

Some of the terminal tackle used today

I actually did quite well on the day as 26 out of 32 blanked, and that single bite was enough for our team of four to come second on the day despite starting with only 3 anglers, finishing with 2 and ending-up with only one fish between us!

As the saying goes - if you can't be good, be lucky!!!

21 October 2012, Richardson's Lake (Marsh Farm)

Peg 14 on Richardson's today - a pretty decent area, and in probably the most prolific section.

Straight lead rig components

I started across to the far side with a 2/3 ounce Guru square bomb and a 12" hooklength of 0.19 Reflo Power into a size 14 Guru QM1 hook - mounted on the hair was an 8mm white pop-up boilie, pinned down with 2 number 8 stotz an inch from the hook.

Method feeder rig components

No indications after 20 minutes so I switched to the method (a small 30g Preston model) loaded with some softened 2mm Fin Perfect pellets and some Stiki Pellet binder - hookbait was a hard 6mm pellet on 10cm of 0.19 Reflo Power into a size 16 QM1.

This led to a few iffy line bites so I switched to the normally more positive pellet feeder (small 30g Preston again) - but at the end of the first hour I was still fishless.

Next up was the pole at 14.5m with a 4x14 KC Carpa Chimp and tiny piece of worm over some chopped worm and caster - again no proper bites so after 2 hours I was still without anything in the net and I was starting to get really twitchy!!!

The Mo Brown Slim'o - a wonderfully handmade pole float



Luckily a switch to a top kit plus 4 line slightly to the left with a 0.1g Mo Brown Slim'o and a 4mm Fin Perfect expander over some softened 2mm pellets led to some proper bites and 2 crucians in short order.

The Slim'o rig

These 2 very welcome fish were followed by 2 more crucians and a skimmer over the next hour.

Scaling down made a difference

Despite opening a new line at an angle to the right the fourth hour was fishless so it was back on the pellet feeder. Again some funny line bites, but after tying-up a hooklength consisting of 10m of 0.15 Reflo Power and a size 18 Drennan Eyed Barbless Carp Feeder hook and attaching a single dead white maggot the tip wanged straight 'round and a small tench found itself in my keepnet!

This was to be a false down however and it proved to be a one off! I rotated my pole lines again, but at 1400 I packed the pole away and committed myself to the tip for the final 90 minutes (we were fishing 1000 - 1530) - this tactic has paid-off before but with hindsight I should've stuck with the top kit plus 4 line as I never had another bite!

In the end my 6 fish weighed 6-13-0, only good enough for a disappointing 6th out of 8 in section.

07 October 2012, Harris Lake (Marsh Farm)

Today was the first match of the Godalming AS teams of four competition, and I found myself on the far bank of Harris Lake at Marsh Farm - the side next to the main railway line between Portsmouth and Waterloo!

This is normally a good area as it is much wider than the near side of Harris, and normally holds tench next to the island and some nice roach through the middle.

Bait for the method feeder

I started on the method to the island looking for an early tench to get me up and running, but no bites materialised in the first 20 minutes.

The Jean Francois - a good choice for silvers on deepish venues

On the whistle I had fed 4 balls of Sensas Gros Gardons and Canal Black (mixed 50:50) at 11.5m and I'd been feeding with casters via a catapult whilst fishing the method feeder so it was time for a look with a 0.6g Jean Francois rig.

This saw a decent run of small roach, but unlike during the previous week's practise I didn't hook any bonus tench or crucians, and with about 2 hours to go I was well down in the section so it was back onto the method to try and catch-up.

Luckily this switch saw 2 nice tench in the net and with an hour to go I was back in contention - however these were to be my last fish of the day and in the end my 9-9-0 was only good enough for 4th in section.

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.

Link to official results from White Acres website

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.