Match 7 - Charity Farm Pool 1 - 15th July 2012

All anglers will no doubt have a particular venue that they cannot stand, you know the one I mean, the one that you deliberately go out of your way to avoid, the one that would never normally get consideration when looking for a pleasure session…………….well Horwich’s next match was on mine…………………Charity Farm on Pool 1.

Now my dislike for this venue runs deep but I am not going to ponder on the reasons behind this and I think for now it’s fair to just say I don’t like the place.  In fact in the days preceding this match I was contemplating having a weekend off but as I hadn’t been out the week before and I had already paid for my peg through my match subs, I figured I’d might as well give it a go.

So, a slightly earlier start than usual saw us making our draw at 7:30.  We had pegged the lake ourselves so I am not sure what permanent peg I was on but I was around the left hand side as you approach the lake from the car park.  I was a bit out of the way to make use of the island in my swim so I opted to fish an all-out pole match today, concentrating on 3 main areas, 1 swim at 11 metres, one at approx. 5 metres and another down the edge.

My main line was at 11 metres and on this line I had 3 rigs set up.  The first rig was to fish on the bottom, while the other 2 were for the upper layers, with one rig set at approx. half depth and the final rig set at around 18 inches.  The plan was to feed this swim with a bit pot of pellets and then I would loose feed 6mm pellets over the top with a view to bringing the fish up in the water.  There were plenty fish topping as I was setting up so I had high hopes for this line.  The 5 metre swim was to be a simple set up to fish 6mm cubed meat on the deck, this was periodically fed with a big pot of meat and finally I set up my margin rig which was to fish meat again but I was also going to cup in loose groundbait over the top.

At the all in, I fed the lines as described above, with the exception of the margin swim which I would start feeding later in the match, and went straight in on my 11 metre swim with the deck rig.  After approx. 15 mins with no indications I decided to start loose feeding pellets in a hope to draw some fish into my swim and get them feeding shallow.  I persevered with this for a while, continually feeding and looking for bites or liners that might indicate the fish are feeding up in the water but after nearly an hour I was still without any sign.  Normally I would continue fishing on the bottom until indications showed the fish were up in the water but as I was having no signs on the bottom I decide to switch to my half depth rig and have a punt that the fish may be up there.  After a short period of time, laying in my rig in different ways I got a few indications by flicking my rig over, almost like slapping but much more casual, and letting fall through the swim on a tight line.  I managed to convert a couple of these indications into fish but they were only small Roach, not the carp I was after, patience prevailed however as after some frustrating minutes missing bites, which I put down to being small Roach just mouthing the pellets, I managed to hook my first Carp of the day, a short battle followed and I soon slipped the net under a nice looking Common Carp of around 4.5lb.  This seemed to be the kiss of death for my shallow swim though after going back out it seemed completely devoid of life.  I quickly brought the shallow rig back in and after re-feeding my short pole line, I went back in at 11 metres on the deck to see if anything had moved over my long pole line while continually loose feeding over the top.  This line once again produced nothing so another look on my half depth rig was in order.  Following the same pattern as before, I spent a few minutes missing bites from the smaller Roach before hitting something much more substantial, in fact when I struck at the bite I could have sworn I had hooked a brick, until it started to move!!  The following battle was a tough one as I fought to try and keep the carp out of my swim to avoid spooking the other fish and to also keep feeding ready for when I went back in.  The fish eventually decided to come closer to me which allowed me to ship back to my top kit and play the fish close in but this then presented more problems as the fish was doing its best to snap me in the margins and under my platform.  Sadly after a few more minutes the hook pulled and the fish got away, perhaps I was bullying it too much but I fear if I hadn’t tried I would have lost it under my platform anyway, would I be left to rue this fish as seeing it in the water, it was easily over 8lb and could have gone to double figures.  Another look on the long line produced nothing as I was even more convinced now that the bigger carp are spooking from the swim when one is hooked.  Rather than going back on this line I decided to rest the swim a bit but continue feeding to bring the fish back in whilst trying my 5 metre line.  With a 6mm cube of meat on the hook, I was immediately getting indications and it wasn’t long before my float buried and resulted in a decent Roach, I stuck at it and over a 30 minute period I managed to put a few really nice Roach in the net.  If this hadn’t been a match I could have quite happily fished for these Roach all day but conscious of the fact that I needed Carp to win, it wasn’t long before I was back on the long line looking for the shallow Carp.  As the match progressed only one more Carp came from the shallow swim and trying to catch them was becoming quite frustrating, another look on the 5 metre line resulted in absolutely nothing – things were looking dire!!  By this time I had started to feed the margin swim so with just under 2 hours left of the match I had my first look, with meat on the hook I was searching for the fish all around where I had been feeding but there were no signs of any fish.  I did hook into a lot of debris on the margin line which was not helping so after at least 45 mins working this swim I gave up on it and came back to the 5 metre swim where I finished the match with one small roach in the last hour.  At the all-out I have to say that I was happy to call it a day as the result was frustrating to say the least – would I rue that lost Carp.  As the scales went round it was obvious that nobody had fished well.  Matt won the day with a 30lb-odd bag of fish followed closely by George who had a good last hour in the margins to put another 30lb + weight on the scales.  My net went to 12lb-odd and whilst the lost fish would have pushed me up the leader board, it would have still left me short of a match win so I don’t feel too bad about losing it.  Whilst packing up I was considering the could have beens and the what ifs but one thought stuck in my mind more than any other, and that was that I should have followed my initial instinct and stayed in bed.  I won’t be going back to Charity Farm in a hurry!!

Super Weekend (or Not!!)

The weekend of 30th June/1st July saw me in action on both days which is a rare treat for me.  Day 1 will see me at Heronbrook Meadow Pool with my old club Pemberton Central AC who kindly allowed me on as a guest whilst Day 2 is Horwich's coach trip down to Cudmore where we will be fishing the so-called 'carp runs' water Adelaide.  High hopes were had for both days.

Day 1 - Heronbrook Meadow Pool
After a catch up with some of the lads over breakfast it was time for the draw. My peg for the day was peg 34 which saw me on the inside corner of a, roughly, 90 degree bend in the pool.  This gave me a lot of water  to go at.  Straight away this made me slightly conscious as I've had similar pegs to this before and not done well, partly because I have tried to do too much.  After getting my seat box set up and comfy I assessed my options and decided to keep things simple by fishing just 3 lines, one tight across to the far bank, one down the track and one in the margins, I also plumbed another 2 lines that I didn't plan to fish unless I felt I needed to.

My first line, and the one which I thought was going to be my main line of attack, was tight across to the far bank at approx. 14 metres.  The swim was set up using a 4x10 Carpa 1 float on 0.17 line to an 0.13 hooklength and a size 16 Drennan Wide Gape Pellet hook.  I also set up another rig for this same line to fish shallow which was using a pea float on 0.17 main line with an 0.15 hooklength to a size 16 PR36 hooklength.  My line down the track was set up using a 0.4g NG Gimp XT float on 0.15 line again to an Drennan Wide Gape Pellet hook.  Finally my margin line was on 0.17 line with a 4x10 Carpa 1 float to an 0.15 hooklength to a size 3 Tubertini T175.  My alternative lines were another tight across and another margin line fishing the same rigs.

At the all-in I started off by giving my track line a big pot of 4mm pellets then went straight across to the far bank feeding a kinder pot full of 6mm cubed meat and using meat on the hook.  Indications were almost immediate however the bites quite tentative and I initially missed a few before hitting my first bite, sadly the first bite turned out to be a Gudgeon of around 2oz.  Not to be put off I went straight back out with another cube of meat and I didn't have to wait long before the float buried for a proper bite.  A gentle lift of the pole saw me connect with something much better and after a short but spirited battle, a Tench of around 1lb came  to the net.  Things were looking on the up but after another 3 Gudgeon and a tiny Perch I was beginning to think that this was not going to be my day.  I decided to move my float slightly shallower to avoid the bottom feeding Gudgeon and this seemed to be a master stroke as a run of around 3 or 4 F1 carp were soon in the net before bites started to slow down a little so I decided to drop a slightly larger pot of meat on the far bank and come in for a look on the track swim.  The track swim produced a couple of F1 carp in quick succession on 4mm expanders before quickly going quiet as the far bank swim.  This seemed become the pattern for the day where I was picking a couple of fish off each line before it went quiet and I needed to move to the next one.  I was managing to keep a few fish coming to the net following this pattern so I was happy to keep this up, after all I couldn't really see anybody else so had no idea how I was doing so I thought it best to fish my own match and see how it goes.  After 3 hours I decided to start feeding my margin swim, so in went 2 big pots of loose groundbait and a full pot of sweetcorn and I went back to poaching my 2 main swims.  After another hour and a few more pots of groundbait and corn I decided to have a look down the margin swim.  With a single grain of corn on the hook I was getting indications on the float straight away and I didn't have to wait too long before the float buried and I was soon slipping the net under a nice sized carp.  Another one soon followed but I was plagued with liners and it was obvious there were a lot of feeding fish in the swim.  After a period of missed bites, I'm surprised I didn't foul hook any fish, I became a little frustrated and decided to leave the margin swim alone for a while.  We were now in the last hour and with the weather making fishing long a little tricky, I decided to stick it out on the track swim and I'm glad I did as I put a good run of fish together fishing a Marukyu JPz on the hook. I reckon I must have put at least 25lb in the net in the last hour.  As the all out was called, I reflected on what was a difficult day whilst I awaited the scales.  When they arrived I put 47lb 12oz on.  I was a little disappointed as I was hoping for more but all in all, it wasn't a bad weight.  At the end of the weigh in, Paul Conroy came top of the shop with 90-odd pound from a peg in the high 20's.  Following that there was a weight in the 60's followed by a few in the 50's.  I was well out if the main places but by no means last.

As I drove home my mind switched focus to match 2 of the weekend at Cudmore.  What would that day bring for me?

Day 2 - Match 6 - Cudmore Fishery - 1st July 2012
For the latest match on Horwich's calendar we were heading down to Cudmore Fishery onto Adelaide Pool.  This was our coach trip match.  Luckily for me, the coach depot is only round the corner from where I live so I could get picked up from there which would allow me to have a few beers on the way home.  So an early start it was for me and Martin who were picked up at 05:30 at the depot before going onto Horwich to pick the lads up and be on our way. 

On arriving at the fishery, first point of call was to get a breakfast and the fishery were more than happy to provide us all with a good breakfast.  We used our own peg numbers on the day so I am not sure which permanent peg I drew but we were all on the bank that backed onto new pool 5.  I was on the right hand side (if you are looking down towards new pools 2 and 1, and casting into the open water between the island and the point.

Based on advice from a very well known regular at cudmore, I went for a pretty much out and out method feeder approach.  Using a combination of pellets and groundbait on the feeder with a selection of dead maggots, punched polony, pellets, boilies and corn for the hook.  I used my Drennan Puddle Chucker combi feeder at 11ft with my Daiwa TDM reel and 6lb mainline.  Based on advice I opted for a strong 0.19mm hooklength with a size 14 Tubertini 861 hook, I had options to drop down hook sizes and hooklength strength so the plan was to just see how it went.  I initially cast to the middle so I would have been fishing along a line from the point to the island.  Not wanting to put all my eggs in one basket, I also set up a pellet waggler to fish over the method line as I could see the odd fish cruising around.  This was set up using my 11ft Dennan Red Range Carp Waggler with a Shimano Super 3000 reel with 6lb mainline.  Hooklengths were 12" of 0.17 to a size 14 PR36.  Finally I set up my margin pole which was as an extreme back up, this was to be fished down the edge using paste.  My rig was tied up on 0.17 line with a Big H paste bullet float and a Tubertini 175 size 3 hook.

At the all in, I went straight in on the method feeder, and there I sat!!  The expected bagging session didn't arrive and for what seemed like an eternity my rod tip sat motionless.  A few exploratory casts around the area came up with the same results.  I tried a multitude of baits with no success.  The strangest thing was that there didn't even seem to be any liners showing or any other indications of fish being in my swim.  A switch to the pellet waggler had the same results with not a dip on the float to show for it.  A move back onto the feeder saw an almost instant bite result in a small carp of around 3lb.  Hoping this was a sign of things to come I quickly re-cast but I had to sit there watching a motionless tip once again.  I must have literally landed the previous cast right on top of that fish's nose.

After 3 hours and only 1 fish in the net I was feeling very down about the day and decided to go for a walk to see what else was going on.  A walk down the bank revealed that I wasn't the only one struggling for bites and there was at least 2 or 3 that hadn't even had a bite.  The further down the line I went the better the fishing seemed to be but it was far from prolific.

Returning back to my box I decided to plug on as with many others not catching it might not take much to get me up in the places.  I decided to stick it out on the feeder as all signs of fish in the upper layers had gone.  Shortly after this, a chap came and decided to fish the peg on the point and proceeded to cast a massive 'coconut' method feeder not far from where I was casting my method feeder.  I was a little miffed by this as to why anyone would want to fish so close to an ongoing match but at then end of the day I suppose the peg was available and if he wanted it there was nothing to stop him.  This meant that I had to start dropping my casts slightly shorter to avoid crossed lines but as my swim was producing nothing, I didn't really mind too much.

As the match moved along it was becoming more and more frustrating that very few fish were showing.  Even the pleasure anglers on the opposite bank were struggling and the match on pool 5 behind us wasn't going to well either.  I managed to snare another bite on the method and put another carp of around 4lnb in the net.  Following that I had another bite that was obviously a much bigger fish than the others.  As my rod bent almost double the fish started to take line before an almighty splash on the surface in the middle of the lake saw my hook pull and the fish come off.  From the size of the splash this was either a big carp or one of the Catfish that are present in this lake but whatever it was, it wasn't to be for me. Boo!!!  Following this I was again sat watching a motionless tip.  In the last hour I decide to try my margin swim but similar to the other lines, the float sat motionless with no signs that there were any fish present.  The margin line was abandoned and I decided to sit out the remainder of the match on the tip.  A final carp of around 5lb was to come my way before a very welcome all out was called.  As I walked the bank chatting to other anglers it was apparent that all had struggled.  The winning weight was around 50lb which came from the end peg at the opposite side to me but with many other weights in low teens and a couple of blanks we were all very disappointed with the result.  I weighed in 12lb-odd.

As we packed up and boarded the coach there was some prime moaning going on, as is normal for match anglers I suppose, but one 'conspiracy theory' came to peoples minds.  With the Fish'O'Mania final in the next couple of weeks being held on the fishery, could it be that the owner had moved some fish from Adelaide into the Arena pool?  It is a far fetched theory but one that I have heard before.  I suppose we will never know if that is true or not.

Following the match we headed off to a nearby pub for a nice meal and some well deserved beers.  I was very pleased to see a good selection of real ales on offer.  I opted for a 4.1% Joules Pale Ale, which is a new one for me and proved a good choice.

Hopefully our next match will bring better results, I believe we are due a good days fishing by now but with the next match being on my least favourite venue in my local area, and one that I will deliberately avoid most of the time, I am not expecting much.