29 August 2015, Syndicate Lake (Gold Valley)

After averaging over 100lb across my last three matches I was looking forward to drawing yet another corner/flyer peg on today’s open match at Gold Valley – however all good things must come to an end and it was certainly back down to earth with a bump after a couple of framing places in a row!

  

No corner peg today!!!

  

  

The View from my Peg (YouTube)

   

On paper today’s draw (peg 113 on the near bank of Syndicate Lake at Gold Valley) wasn’t too bad and this area has recently thrown-up some good weights – however as this lake is essentially a large rectangle split into two by a central dividing rope with no obvious features the fish often congregate along the parallel bank of the corner pegs, leaving the majority of swims (those with open water only) seemingly devoid of fish. Having drawn three corner pegs in my previous three matches I have of course reaped the rewards of such draws, though that didn’t make today’s match summary any easier to swallow – in essence two of the corner pegs (118 and 121) annihilated the match with a fish a bung whilst everybody else struggled to bites!!!

  

The view to the left

  

I spent most of the day on the bomb and pellet and could only manage six carp for 42-8-0 – two in the first four hours followed by four more in the final hour. Annoyingly I also lost three further carp that seemingly fell-off on the way in for no good reason – though it reality this was probably down to an issue with the way I was presenting my hookbait or feeding as opposed to some grand conspiracy! As well as the straight lead I also tried the margins (nothing) and had a rig for targeting skimmers at 5m with 6mm meat (which only led to one roach and one perch).

  

An effective combination

  

Despite not threatening the frame I did manage to learn something today – namely that a small handful of Ringers ‘donkey choker’ pellets can be fired a long, long way via a Drennan Feedapult catapult!!! However in future matches I personally need to focus on accuracy rather that distance as in an effort to reach as close as possible to the central rope my feed pellets were spreading-out too much, giving any feeding carp too big an area to graze over before encountering the pellet attached to my hook.

  

Scales!

  

I nearly forgot to mention – today saw me on the scales for a fourth match in a row, so as well as suffering the indignity of not catching a lot I also had to weigh in the 200lb plus winning weight from peg 118. Happy days!!!

  

Until next time …

  

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22 August 2015, Middle Lake (Gold Valley)

Another day, another flyer!!! Today saw the draw bag cough-up a third corner peg in a row, this time at Gold Valley, the peg in question (61) being the nearest peg to the clubhouse on the Causeway Bank of Middle Lake. Unusually this swim has a large set of lily pads to the left (not always ideal when you’re doing battle with hard fighting carp) and on arrival I was greeted by a thick layer of scum that extended 3 or 4 meters from the bank. However today was a lovely sunny day and I really couldn’t have asked for a better draw - so who am I to complain!!!

  

Lights, camera, action!

The View from my Peg (YouTube)

  

I once again left the pole in the bag and went with two tip rods – both with 8lb Daiwa Sensor main line and both with 3’ leaders of 10lb (0.30) Drennan Supplex fluorocarbon. (The idea behind the use of flurocarbon leaders is that being super-heavy they keep the line behind the feeder/bomb pinned to the deck, making things a little less obtrusive to weary fish.) Both were set-up for using various Guru X-Safe gadgets (so each fluorocarbon leader was finished with a simple loop), but one rod was clipped-up for casting fairly tight to the central dividing rope straight in front, the other for casting towards the funny man-made mini island thing that formed part of the parallel bank to the left.

End Peg Billy - yet again!!!

  

The first hour of the match was pretty good with 5 carp and 3 skimmers, all but one of which falling to a 24g Guru mini Hybrid feeder loaded with soaked micros and a 6mm hard pellet hookbait from the open water to the rope swim – the other falling to a straight lead set-up from the same area. Despite this good start the second hour was rubbish – biteless in fact – leaving me wondering if I wasn’t about to ruin yet another flyer!!!

  

That's more like it

  

Luckily things picked-up from 1300 with a barrage of 8mm pellets fed via a catapult to the rope eventually leading to steady bites through to the end, 95% from the open water swim and just the odd pull from tight to the parallel bank to the left. Despite landing twenty-odd carp I did though lose a disappointingly high total of five: one simply fell-off on the way in, one straightened a size 14 QM1, one broke the elastic running through the feeder and two broke my 0.22 hooklength – all mainly as a result of needing to clip-up to the rope but the fish being able to swim under it before I could remove said clip.

  

On the scales again!

  

Luckily those losses didn't cost me too much as my 121-8-0 was enough for second overall - a mere three pounds ahead of a rather disappointed Linus Neale, but tantalisingly close to the winning 140-8-0!!!

  

Until next time ...

  

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16 August 2015, Old Lake (Willinghurst)

There are two aspects of match fishing that never cease to amaze me - firstly is how often I end-up being pegged next to the same angler time after time (I'm sure Colin Underwood is sick of the sight of me on Godalming AS club matches); and secondly is how often I seem to draw the same pegs again and again - I've only fished the Old Lake at Willinghurst three times but I've now managed to draw peg one twice in a row!

  

Fun in the sun!

The View from my Peg (YouTube)

With the benefit of having fished the peg before (and not managing a bite on the pole) I decided to stick to a two swim, two rod approach - the first line being into the deeper water straight in front at 25-30m, the second being into the rushes along the parallel bank to my right at about 20m where there was a nice looking indent.

Guru X-Safe in-line weights

In terms of the first set-up I went for my usual Daiwa Tournament Pro 10' tip rod and a Daiwa TDR 3012 reel (loaded with 8lb Daiwa Sensor) - the arrangement being completed with simple loop in the end of mainline to take the variety of Guru X-Safe weights and feeders I planned to try. The second set-up consisted of a Daiwa Tournament Pro 11' waggler rod and another Daiwa TDR 3012 reel, this time loaded with 4lb Daiwa Sensor - relatively light line but as I wanted to use the lightest floats I could get away with the drop in breaking strain seemed worthwhile. (Hooklength for the waggler was 25cm of 0.17 N-Gauge to a size 18 Guru Pellet Waggler hook and a hair-rigged pellet band.)

 

I was End Peg Billy again today!

  

The first 90 minutes (1030-1200) of the match were OK with six carp hitting the net - one first chuck on a Hybrid feeder into the rushes and a total of 5 into the open water with a two thirds of an ounce Guru X-Safe in-line lead and a 30cm hooklength of 0.17 Guru N-Gauge to a size 14 QM1 with a hair-rigged pellet band.

   

Mainly pellets again today

 

Unfortunately the next two hours (1200-1400) were rather slow because as far as I can remember I didn't have a single bite on bomb, feeder or waggler!!!

  

The Guru Hybrid feeder that did the damage

   

Fortunately the final three hours of the match (1400-1700) just kepy on getting better and better with a total of twenty carp hitting the net - the action started to improve via the straight lead but some heavy feeding of 8mm pellets into the indent in the rushes along the parallel back eventually paid-off and towards the end it was literally one a bung on the pellet feeder, with most bites coming really quickly and the rod doubling-up within seconds. This good run of fished allowed me to weigh a total of 127-8-0 - enough for second on the lake and fourth overall in the match (which was won by England legend Stevie Gardener from a peg on the Top Lake).

  
Until next time ...
   

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02 August 2015, Old Lake (Willinghurst)

Today's outing was another another visit to Willinghurst for a cheeky open match on the Old Lake - and I've only gone and drawn myself a nice corner swim in peg one! In all fairness this peg didn't really produce on my previous visit to the venue in July, but it certainly looked inviting today with a lovely set of overhanging rushes running up and down the margin of the parallel bank to my right!!!

Welcome to the jungle!

The View from my Peg (YouTube)

As a result I decided to set-up two rods for fishing into the open water straight in front (a two thirds of an ounce Guru in-line lead mounted on an X-Safe arm and a pellet waggler) and a pellet feeder arrangement for chucking into the rushes.

Where's End Peg Billy?!?

 

I did also have the option of fishing the long pole across to a spot on the parallel bank but chose to ignore it as I thought that fishing the pellet feeder further along the bank would be more effective - though I did fish meat at top kit plus two in front at the bottom of the shelf, but never had a bite on it!!!

  

The joys of a corner peg!!!

   

In the end I managed 17 carp for 87 pounds exactly - 1 on the waggler, 5 on the pellet feeder into the rushes and the rest on the bomb into open water - and came nowhere!!!

  

Scaling down from 0.22 to 0.17 made a big difference

  

Despite not making the grade today I did uncover something rather interesting - whilst fishing the bomb I could hardly muster a bite on my first choice 0.22 hooklength but when I dropped down to 0.17 the tip kept on going 'round, something I still can't understand given the highly coloured water!!!

 

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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 ...

  

  

The View from my Peg (YouTube)

  
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 …
  

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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

   

  

The View from my Peg (YouTube)

  

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 …

  

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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)

  

  

The View from my Peg (YouTube)

  
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 …
  

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