Orcheton

The next match on Pems calendar saw me returning to an old favourite in the shape of Orcheton fishery near Heskin. It's a venue I quite like but through one thing or another I hadn't visited it in probably 18 months or so. So prior to the match I managed a sneaky practice on a Wednesday evening. Arriving after the open match had finished, I settled on peg 1. The match had been won with 80-odd pound from peg 11, with pegs 33 and peg 1 placing behind. I was told that all these 3 had caught up in the water on the pole. With that in mind I opted to fish the pellet waggler for the evening. I was quite happy with pole up in the water so thought I would try the pellet waggler to get back in the swing of this method as I hadn't fished it a great deal recently. The evening started slowly and my casting left a lot to be desired but I eventually got into the swing of it and ended up catching about 30 - 40lb of carp. Not a bad evenings work. Made a couple of new friends that night too, or at least I thought they were my friends until they chased me off the peg 

MATCH DAY

Orcheton was looking lovely on the day of the match 

I drew peg 12 which was just out of the pegs that I'd have preferred but it wasn't the worse peg available. Based on the feedback from the open match and my own pleasure session I decided to set up my pole at 14 metres to fish up in the water and set my pellet waggler up to fish just beyond pole range. In addition I set up a couple of margin lines and my feeder rod which I set up with a method feeder to fish to my left in a corner bay. 

At the all in I went straight out on the pole, initially fishing about 18 inches deep, and was getting bites straightaway. Using a 6mm banded pellet and occasionally pinging a few over the top, I was putting a few fish in the net but they were a bit on the small side. Others around me had started on bomb and pellet waggler and they were slow to start but soon were putting a few in the net but they were a much bigger stamp. Having seen a few bigger fish topping behind my pole line, I decided to switch to pellet waggler to try and keep up with those around me. This seemed like a good idea and I put a few bigger carp in the net and a couple of decent bream. One of the carp was a nice double figure ghost carp that initially thought I'd foul hooked by the way it took off as soon as the float hit the water, but it was fairly hooked and provided a good boost to my weight. At this point I was doing quite well and felt I could place in the match if I continued at the pace...........oooops. At around the 2 hour mark the fishing really slowed down for me and I found myself trying all sorts to keep the fish coming. The shallow lines in front of me seemed to dry up, and my margin pole lines produced only roach. I tried my feeder line and whilst this's gave me 2 fish, they were only small and inbetween I seemed to be bringing in big bunches of debris. After a couple of hours of messing about trying to keep fish coming, I fished my final hour on the pellet waggler and put a couple of fish in the net but not enough to catch up. At the all out I would the rods in feeling very frustrated and a little bit miffed with myself for wasting time searching for bites during that quiet spell, I think if I'd have stuck it out on the shallow line it would have really come good later on. At the weigh in, there were a few low weights recorded before me so when my 30lb was recorded it out me momentarily in front. Considering that I had a double figure carp in that 30lb, the day was even worse than I thought and I knew I was miles off the front runners. At the end of the weigh in it proved to be very close at the top with Alex Yates on peg 1 recording 67-10 and Dennis Derby narrowly missing out with 67-4 off peg 10. 3rd place went to Mark Anglessey with 45lb, I think from peg 28. My 30lb faired better than I thought and was actually enough for 5th overall. Given the top 2 weights, I didn't feel like my peg could have troubled them in the day but I feel that 3rd was well within my grasp. The angler in 4th place was a guest so when taken out of the points, I've only had 4 added to my tally so not a disaster.  Old hough next in a couple of weeks time, unless I can sneak out for a pleasure session in between.

Bloggers curse......??

Is there such a thing? After today's outing I would be inclined to say yes. Less than 24 hours after kick starting my blog again, I record my worse result of the year.

Today Pem Central descended upon Partridge lakes for a match on the marsh canal. With the fishomania qualifier winner coming off marsh and reports of 60+lb midweek weights, we were looking forward to a good days fishing. The weather had other ideas though and proved a sound opponent.

Only 11 turned up today including one guest so it was a bit of a low turnout but it did mean that we could spread ourselves out a bit on the water. I drew peg 3, with Ste Green next to me on peg 2. Peg 4 was empty and Mark Anglesey occupied peg 5.

The keen eyed amongst you will notice I have 2 poles set up today. My regular pole is out of action at the moment whilst sections are being repaired (courtesy of my swimming session at Highfield) so I was on a loaner pole. Whilst setting up I realised that one if the top kits didn't fit which really limited my options. Kindly, mark lent me his spare pole so I had 2 different poles set up.

I went for 4 lines. 2 lines across, one in a little cutaway, and one against some far bank rushes. My 3rd line was short where I hoped to catch up in the water and my final line was down the edge. Baits were softened 4mm pellets on the 2 long lines, caster short and groundbait down the edge. I had a variety of hook baits and tried multiple options through the day.

After the all in I went long on cutaway swim and was instantly into a small mirror carp but following that fish, all I could manage was 2 small ide. After persevering on the long line for an hour, I tried the short line but had no signs of any fish feeding shallow. I tried a rig on this line to fish on the deck but that produced nothing either. Struggling for bites I found myself back on the long lines where I managed to nick another mirror  carp in front of the rushes but again this was a solitary fish and I was once again struggling for bites. With about 90 mins to go I tried my line down the edge with maggot on the hook and I managed to hook into an F1 before, like the others, this swim went dead. Frustration reigned and with half an hour left I decided enough was enough and packed up.

At the weigh in, it was obvious that the water hadn't fished great. My 5 fish went to 5lb dead which put me 10th out of 11 and last amongst club members. The match was won with 28lb off peg 9, with 2nd and 3rd weighing 19lb and 16lb.

All in all a poor day made worse by heavy rain and feeling a little bit lost without my usual pole. With 10pts coming my way, I have made things difficult for myself I want to stay top if the league but it has closed the gap and making for a close run league up now.

I'm back

It's been a while but I thought I might try blogging my fishing adventures again. Rather than start a new blog, I thought I'd pick up on this one, bring you all up to speed and then crack on so.........here goes

2012

So when I last posted in here it was 2012 and I was fishing with Horwich Old Anglers. I finished the year with Horwich but at the end of the club fixtures I decided to call it a day with that club. There were a number of factors that led to that decision that I'll not go into but I will say that it was a good year with the club, I got to know some good blokes and had some good laughs.

2013

After leaving Horwich, and with my Saturdays still not being great for a return to Pem Central, I decided to try my hand on the open match scene in my local area. Me and Martin decided we would fish as a partnership, sharing tactics and winnings. Initially we planned on sticking to a couple of venues. We initially chose Sycamore Fishery in Golborne and Rosemary Wood Fishery. We have these a few months, alternating between the 2 but as we were only getting out every other weekend we were only getting one match on each ensue a month. This wasn't too bad on sycamore as it was a typical F1 dominated canal style water but on Rosemary Wood, the matches were rovers and venue regulars knowledge of the water was making it very difficult to compete. Ultimately we dropped rosemary wood and moved to Partridge lakes near Warrington and hall lane fishery near rufford. Without going into too much detail, as the year progressed I was finding more and more than whilst the fishing was great and the competition was great, I was missing the banter of club fishing and decided that at the end of the year I would be looking to go back to club angling. Before that though, me and Martin had joined forces with Matt and Dave to enter a teams of 4 winter league on partridge lakes, run by St. Helens tackle and bait. As the team worked out our plans for the league it was decided that me and Martin would fish covey 5 and 6 respectively, mainly down to our previous experience on the partridge opens, Matt went on to Marsh/Spey while Dave found himself on Willow/Piper. I started the league really well with a good section winning performance in the first match but that was followed by a couple of poor results while the rest of the matches I found myself around mid section. Safe to say that as a team we weren't challenging the league leaders but we finished mid table which is a respectable performance given a lot of the other teams were made up of venue regulars.

2014

As we moved into 2014 I was finishing off my winter league whilst planing my next move. My wife's working pattern had changed to alternative Saturdays whih allowed me an option to fish Saturdays again. A check with Pem Central and nearly all of their matches lied on days were Gail was off so I finally got the chance to go back where I wanted to be.

So what's happened so far..........

Well Pems matches started off in March with a return visit to Rosemary wood on the cards for me. The match was on Moss lake and I found myself pegged in the corner where the boards meet the far bank. This proved to be a good draw and I fished a steady match on the banjo feeder with a few bream and a couple of bonus carp giving me 3rd place in the match. Surprisingly for the time of year and the conditions on the day, the match winner an runner up both fished on the pellet waggler.

Next was a new venue for me. Old Hough Fishery near middlewich. Another typical canal style water. I had what seemed like another decent draw in a corner that I fancied for a possible win but as fortune had it, most members struggled on the day and the best I could manage was 4th overall with a mixed net of chub and small carp.

Model canal was next and is a venue I have really enjoyed and had some success with previously. A good match was had overall with a decent winning weight and close back up weights for all members . My nets were enough for 5th in the match.

Highfield fishery followed with a match on oak pool. Whilst I have fished at Highfield before, this is the first time I've been on oak. Safe to say I won't be rushing back as a difficult day found us scratching for bites and my 2 carp could only must enough weight for 9th place.

A long drive awaited for the next match as the club made it's way down the M6 to Heronbrook fisheries and a day on te meadow pool. I love this venue but had not fished it for a couple of years. The draw saw me on peg 8(I think) on the first arm and I fished a simple match of pellets on the deck at 11metres to put a weight of around 80lb on the scales. My best result of the year so far and my best on the venue ever. I finished 4th overall but as we had 2 guests and they both finished in 1st and 2nd place, league points equivalent to 2nd place came my way.

Hall lane was next and similar to Highfield, I had fished on hall lane before but not on this particular pool. The draw saw me roughly in the middle of the length and I fished hard all day at 16m to catch. My weight was good enough for 4th place.

A visit to Highfield again was next but this time on Beech. I had fished this venue before but not in the area I drew. I decided on a simple attack based on meat and pellets and rotated between an 11m swim and a far bank swim to catch steadily through the day. Disaster struck though as in the process of landing a fish, I dropped my pole and in the act of trying to grab it, I fell off my box and into the lake, thigh deep in the margins. Recovering the pole that had dropped in, I realised that on the act of falling in, I had let go of my top kit which was now making it's way towards the far bank still attached to the fish. As I wa already wet through, I went for a swim to recover the top kit. I got it and landed the fish still attached but that was the end of the match, luckily there was only 5 mins left so I hadn't done much to jeopardise my result. The scales came my way and my weight was good enough for 4th again. From chatting to the lads it seems I had the numbers to win but my fish were too small and some bigger fish being caught elsewhere made it difficult for me to compete.

That's us up to date on club matches. After that match, I found myself at the top of the club league with 31 points, 10 points clear of second place on 41. A good start, considering I haven't won a math this year it shows that I can be consistently up there with the front runners. 

Last weekend, I found myself back on the bank of partridge lakes in the fishomania qualifier. 180 pegs wasn't going to be easy. In the draw queue I couldn't decide where I felt I wanted to be but had a slight leaning towards covey 5 where I had spent the winter or Holbar. At the draw I pulled out peg 65 on covey 3. Not an area I had fished before but with fish topping and an inviting aerator in my peg, I felt it was a peg I could catch a few from but I could t have been more wrong. After a reasonable start the fish just seemed to disappear and I was left scratching for bites for the rest of the day.  My 18lb wasn't enough to trouble for the section never mind the match but looking at the results, it seemed the coveys fished hard on the day.

And that was last weekend. So it's now Friday night and tomorrow I find myself back at partridge to fish a club match on marsh canal - which is where the fishomania qualifier was won - but the weather is not looking promising. A good result is need though to cement my place at the top of he league - especially considering I will be missing a match In July.