I happen to be in a fortunate position where I am allowed to leave work at 12:30 on a Friday so on the 18th May I planned an afternoon session at Whitmore Fisheries, which is local to my work, with my mate Tony, who is a beginner in the sport. I recently helped Tony out by getting him sorted with some tackle and he was keen to give it a try. Another friend of mine Paul was also planning to join us.
When we arrived at the fishery we were promptly met by the bailiff who directed us to East Lake pegs 8 and 9, which are well known to be fliers on the lake and by some stroke of luck were sat empty when we arrived. I found myself on peg 8 while Tony went to peg 9.
I first assisted Tony in getting set up, opting to fish a method feeder on a 10ft tip rod with a small preston inline feeder, Tony was very quickly catching fish which left me happy to get myself tackled up. I also went for the method feeder set up on my trusty 9ft6/11ft Puddle Chucker, set up at 11ft today. I opted for a larger feeder to give me and Tony a chance of working out which was preffered on the day and changing if we need to. I also set up a pole line at 2+2 and one in the margins, these were really set for later in the day.
I was catching reasonably frequently but during his rounds the bailiff stopped by and advised me to cast further. Apparently there is a sunken island in the lake and my casts were falling short of it. Following this guidance we found the shallower water which made a massive and instant change to my day as on most casts my tip was flying round before the feeder had even settled as big chub and carp were taking the feeder on the drop (point to note for next time here - bring my pellet waggler set up). This continued for a while and Tony was also catching well. While all this was going on, Paul had turned up and settled himself on peg 10 and was catching on the pole.
Tony decided to call it a day at around 5pm after about 10 'last casts' at which point Paul moved himself onto the now vacant peg 9 and preceeded to catch on the method over the same sunken island.
Meanwhile, I had been feeding my pole lines throughout the afternoon and decided to have a quick look. The 2+2 line was a little slower than expected but did produce a few carp and a barbel, it seemed to be that the fish were taking the bait on the drop towards the bottom of the swim but when I shallowed up a bit the bites seemed to stop. So back on the bottom I went and continued to catch well. Eventually as the session was drawing to a close I came in on the margin line where I managed to catch a few good Barbel, the biggest of the day being about 6lb. I decided to go back out on the feeder for a while as I slowly packed away my gear, managing to land a couple more fish before eventually calling it a day at around 7pm.
Overall it was an enjoyable afternoon, Tony had a good time and we have arranged to go back this coming Thursday for a full day. Hopefully I will remember to get some photos this time around.
Tuesday 22 May 2012
Monday 14 May 2012
Match 3 - Rosemary Wood Fishery - 12th May 2012
I've put the post up to keep my match sequence going but I didn't actually attend this match as I was away at a friends wedding.
The match was won by Bryan Deighton with 46lb on the method.
Well done Bryan!!
The match was won by Bryan Deighton with 46lb on the method.
Well done Bryan!!
An Evening on Pollys
Playing catch up again now, fishing has slowed down a little following my little flurry in April.
My last session was a Sunday evening session on one of my (reasonably) local waters, Kingsdown Flash, or Pollys as it is locally known. Its not a water I fish regular, in fact I think the last time I fished it was over 10 years ago. Anyway, I met up with Martin at about 5:30pm and to keep it simple for a short session I went purely for a method feeder set up. It was by no means a bagging session but I managed 3 Tench, 2 decent Skimmers and a few Roach in the couple of hours I was there, mainly falling to the feeder with sweetcorn on the hair. I have made a conscious decision to revisit the water this year for a full day, where I will hopefully target the Tench and Crucian population on pole tackle.
A real highlight of the evening though was not what was in the water, but what was above it as a Kingfisher was sat in the tree right next to my peg. It was a real privilege to see such a lovely bird as you don't see them often these days.
My last session was a Sunday evening session on one of my (reasonably) local waters, Kingsdown Flash, or Pollys as it is locally known. Its not a water I fish regular, in fact I think the last time I fished it was over 10 years ago. Anyway, I met up with Martin at about 5:30pm and to keep it simple for a short session I went purely for a method feeder set up. It was by no means a bagging session but I managed 3 Tench, 2 decent Skimmers and a few Roach in the couple of hours I was there, mainly falling to the feeder with sweetcorn on the hair. I have made a conscious decision to revisit the water this year for a full day, where I will hopefully target the Tench and Crucian population on pole tackle.
A real highlight of the evening though was not what was in the water, but what was above it as a Kingfisher was sat in the tree right next to my peg. It was a real privilege to see such a lovely bird as you don't see them often these days.
Wednesday 2 May 2012
Up to Date
Right, so that is me up to date now from the start of my club matches. Hopefully future reports will be slightly more detailed and accurate.
Prison Service Teams of 4 - Garbolino Lindholme Lakes - 24th/25th April
This is one of the main events of the year for me as it takes me to what has become my favourite commercial fishery in the country, Lindholme Lakes.
Now I am not in the Prison Service, I assist in making up numbers on a friends team. This is the second year for me. The plan, as last year was to travel up to Lindholme on the Tuesday morning for a pleasure/practice session then stay over at the fishery and fish the match on the Wednesday.
Tuesday 24th April
So after an early start we get to the fishery for about 8:30 in time for a good cooked breakfast before settling down on Bonsai lake for the day. We were limited with pegs on the day due to an open match and so between the 4 of us we occupied pegs 11 to 15 (I think 13 was left empty). I was on peg 14 and this was my view for the day
My plan for the day was to try a few different methods and just have a chilled out day. Covering as many options as I could I fished a banjo feeder to the point of the left island whilst I had a waggler set up to fish in the open water between the islands. I also had a pellet feeder set up to fish on the bottom beneath the waggler line. I had pole lines set up in the open water in front of me and and in the margins. My only target for the day was to beat my travelling partner Mark, who was on peg 15.
I was still setting up my gear as Mark was catching fish, I have to say with a smug grin on his face as well
On the day of the match we knew that 2 of us would be on Bonsai lake and 2 of us would be on Oasis. This was the format last year and as me and Mark were on Oasis last year, it was our time on Bonsai this year. From the drawbag I had peg 6 and Mark had peg 46 (I think, but it was in that area). You will notice that there are no photos from Wednesday to upload and this is simply because the weather was so bad I couldn't bear to take my phone out of my pocket to try take any. We learned some new Yorkshire language on this day, 'ALL IN' means 'Start Pissing Down' and 'ALL OUT' means 'Stop Pissing Down'. There was no variation inbetween. So on a very hard day I had to keep rotating between 5 pole lines and a feeder line to keep the bites coming. Frustratingly I lost about almost as many as I actually landed. At the weigh in I put 38lb-odd on the scales which gave me 4th in my 13 man section. This was well off the main prizes as the lake and match was one with over 100lb but considering my section was won with 48lb-odd it left me ruing those lost fish and they could have seen me take the section.
Following the match the overall results showed the team finishing 8th out of 13 which is an improvement on last year.
Now I am not in the Prison Service, I assist in making up numbers on a friends team. This is the second year for me. The plan, as last year was to travel up to Lindholme on the Tuesday morning for a pleasure/practice session then stay over at the fishery and fish the match on the Wednesday.
Tuesday 24th April
So after an early start we get to the fishery for about 8:30 in time for a good cooked breakfast before settling down on Bonsai lake for the day. We were limited with pegs on the day due to an open match and so between the 4 of us we occupied pegs 11 to 15 (I think 13 was left empty). I was on peg 14 and this was my view for the day
I was still setting up my gear as Mark was catching fish, I have to say with a smug grin on his face as well
As the day progressed however I did get my own back and by the time we decided to pack up for the day I had at least double the number of fish that Mark did :-)
After fishing on the Tuesday we retired to one of the new pods at Lindholme which are a great addition and well suited to housing a couple of mates for a few days fishing!
Wednesday 25th April
On the day of the match we knew that 2 of us would be on Bonsai lake and 2 of us would be on Oasis. This was the format last year and as me and Mark were on Oasis last year, it was our time on Bonsai this year. From the drawbag I had peg 6 and Mark had peg 46 (I think, but it was in that area). You will notice that there are no photos from Wednesday to upload and this is simply because the weather was so bad I couldn't bear to take my phone out of my pocket to try take any. We learned some new Yorkshire language on this day, 'ALL IN' means 'Start Pissing Down' and 'ALL OUT' means 'Stop Pissing Down'. There was no variation inbetween. So on a very hard day I had to keep rotating between 5 pole lines and a feeder line to keep the bites coming. Frustratingly I lost about almost as many as I actually landed. At the weigh in I put 38lb-odd on the scales which gave me 4th in my 13 man section. This was well off the main prizes as the lake and match was one with over 100lb but considering my section was won with 48lb-odd it left me ruing those lost fish and they could have seen me take the section.
Following the match the overall results showed the team finishing 8th out of 13 which is an improvement on last year.
Match 2 - Latham Fishery - 22nd April
Match 2 on the Horwich calendar had us at Latham Fishery on Pool 4. I have fished this venue previously so I went to the match with a plan in mind. As the day progressed I felt like I was catching reasonably frequently but I was aware that I was well off the pace but alas it was not so. When the scales came round I was shocked as to how little there was in my keepnet.
Alas I weighed in 12lb-odd. I am not sure where I came overall in the match but safe to say its not worth shouting about. A poor result but still good to be out on the bank, despite the crazy weather
Alas I weighed in 12lb-odd. I am not sure where I came overall in the match but safe to say its not worth shouting about. A poor result but still good to be out on the bank, despite the crazy weather
Match 1 - Coppull Mill Lodge - 01 April 2012
This is going to be a brief post as its a while ago now and some of the details have been lost from my head!!
Match 1 of the year with Horwich was on Coppull Mill Lodge. Coppull Mill is a new venue for me, having only ever fished it once before which was about 3 weeks preceding the match.
Safe to say that the drawing arm I was famed for at Pem has not yet deserted me and I managed to pull out a favoured end peg on the far side from the3 car park. Advice from the lads had me fishing against the trees that extended out from the right hand side of my peg. I had to quickly tie up some slightly heavier rigs though as I came expecting to be catching palm sized roach.
The match itself was a slow goer and I could see Martin on the opposite end peg catching well so there was some work to be done. Fishing corn over a bed of loose fed pellets and slowly managed to put a few nice Tench and Crucian Carp in the keepnet to go along with the few roach I had caught earlier in the morning.
At the all out I was confident that I had put enough in the net to be up in the places but had my doubts as to whether I had enough to beat Martin. I put 12lb 12oz on the scales to just pip Martin who weighed in 11lb-odd for second. A good first win in the new club and to top it off me and Martin had managed to be drawn as a pair so we bagged that accolade as well.
Match 1 of the year with Horwich was on Coppull Mill Lodge. Coppull Mill is a new venue for me, having only ever fished it once before which was about 3 weeks preceding the match.
Safe to say that the drawing arm I was famed for at Pem has not yet deserted me and I managed to pull out a favoured end peg on the far side from the3 car park. Advice from the lads had me fishing against the trees that extended out from the right hand side of my peg. I had to quickly tie up some slightly heavier rigs though as I came expecting to be catching palm sized roach.
The match itself was a slow goer and I could see Martin on the opposite end peg catching well so there was some work to be done. Fishing corn over a bed of loose fed pellets and slowly managed to put a few nice Tench and Crucian Carp in the keepnet to go along with the few roach I had caught earlier in the morning.
At the all out I was confident that I had put enough in the net to be up in the places but had my doubts as to whether I had enough to beat Martin. I put 12lb 12oz on the scales to just pip Martin who weighed in 11lb-odd for second. A good first win in the new club and to top it off me and Martin had managed to be drawn as a pair so we bagged that accolade as well.
3rd Time Lucky
So here it is, my third attempt at creating a blog to document my fishing and real ale adventures. I've got a bit to catch up on though but I am going to start from where my new club calendar starts.
I had to change clubs this year due to personal circumstances so I now fish with Horwich Old Angling Society.
I had to change clubs this year due to personal circumstances so I now fish with Horwich Old Angling Society.
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