Rosemary Wood - Moss Lake

Rosemary Wood Fishery - Moss Lake

Saturday 28th March 2015

After missing Pem Centrals first match of the year through being on a mates stag do, I was looking forward to this session as being my first match of the year. 

On arriving at venue the though, it is clear that this was to be a match with 3 big challenges. The obvious one being the match itself but also the weather was against us with strong winds and heavy rains battering us right from the off. The final challenge would be the bad head that I was nursing from my pals wedding the night before (don't worry folks, I didn't drive today - good man Alex kindly picked me up).

At the draw we had only 12 turn up for the match but this allowed us to spread out a bit. With the wind blowing straight into the 'board' pegs, I was praying for a peg along the far bank where the wind would be coming from the right so I'm sure you can imagine my delight when I pulled out peg 40 on the boards. This was going to be a long day.

My first thoughts on arriving at the peg was that the boards seemed to have improved somewhat since my last visit here but that was quickly overruled by the thought of feeling sea sick and a little bit wobbly - could have been something to do with the previous nights activities.

With wind in my face and constant rain, I decided to keep the day as simple as I could and just try to get a respectable weight. So I set up just the one rod which was my feeder rod and fished this with a banjo feeder. For the feeder I had dampened some 4mm pellets to squeeze in the feeder and I had a selection of normal pellets and bandums for hook baits. This was probably the fastest I had ever set up for a match in my history of match fishing.

My peg - taken during a respite from the rain.

Some other notable draws in the match was Alex Yates and Mark Anglesea who yet again find them selves next to each other on this venue and in the same area from which they came top 2 the previous year and with the wind in their favour (as much as it could be today) I fancied those 2 to be leading the chase again. Dennis Darby, John Ruddy and Mark Thomas were also pegged on that side so a middle of the pack placing was going to be my target.

At the all in, I went straight out with feeder and braced myself for a tough day ahead so I was very surprised when my tip shot round within a couple of minutes of being in the water. A small carp of around 1.5/2lb was the prize and whilst not a huge fish, it filled me with hope that it could be a good day ahead despite the conditions.  Thankfully the rain blew over and just left us with the wind in our faces which made the day a bit more comfortable and was good drying weather for my saturated gear, sadly though the early positive signs appeared to be false hope as it took a while to get any more fish into the net and when they did they were small skimmers. Fortunately though, I did manage to land a nicer carp of around 6/7lb along the way so felt I was doing well as I wasn't seeing many others catching. Mark Jordan to my right had a few skimmers and George Derbyshire to my left was steadily landing small roach on the pole so at the very least I felt I was competing for my section. I hadn't seen many others catching on the other bank but much of the time my head was tucked into my jacket so didn't want to read too much into that. I continued to plug away with the banjo and was eventually rewarded with a nice carp that was into double figures. This fish, I felt put me firmly in the chase for a top 3 place but I had started to see Mark Anglesea's landing net get some use so I knew I had to keep going. I continued to catch steadily for the rest of the match with only odd quiet spells but the fish I was catching were skimmers and whilst enjoyable to fish for, I knew that if the other guys had been catching carp, I would struggle to compete despite the fact that a few of my skimmers were over 1lb.  In typical fashion the rain returned for the last half hour just in time to get us all wet through again before we had to pack up.

At the all out, I had only managed to land another 1 carp and this was only about 2lb. Once packed up, which was also my fastest on record, I walked up the bank and there was talk of nets of carp but nothing's bags. I was confidently estimating a net of around 30lb, as I felt my 4 carp between them were at least 20lb and reckoning on around 10lb of skimmers.

At the weigh in, we started on the other bank so all my main competition for the day would weigh in before me. Some good weights were recorded quite quickly with Dennis Darby putting 34lb 4oz on, Lee Roper 32lb 8oz and alex Yates 32lb.  With 3 weights over 30lb in quick succession, I was already thinking that a section win was going to be my best hope. There were no other weights recorded that I thought would be better than mine, which was quite surprising with the amount of action I had seen from Mark Anglesea but he says he lost a lot of fish at the net, much to his frustration. It was soon my turn and lifting my keep net out of he water, I knew it was going to be close but I didn't expect the scales to record the 39lb 2oz they did. So either the carp that I caught were bigger than i estimated, or the skimmers were worth more than the 10lb, either way I was very happy. Late runs from George Derbyshire and Ste Green didn't do enough as they each recorded 18lb. So I was very happy, on my first match of 2015 I have recorded a win.

Top 3:

1st: Stuart Rourke 39lb 2oz

2nd: Dennis Darby 34lb 4oz

3rd: Lee Roper 32lb 8oz

Sections (by default):

Section 1 (pegs 24 to 30): Alex Yates 32lb

Section 2 (pegs 31 to 43): Ste Green/George Derbyshire 18lb

Couple of points to note, I have fished here quite a few times now and I have always found that a stand out hookbait seems to work better on the feeder than one that blends in with the feed, this was further reinforced by the fact that my top hookbait was a white bandum on which all but 2 of my fish were caught on.

The final point to note is that despite nursing a hangover I managed to win this match. I have thought about this over the last 24 hours or so, was it coincidence, luck, do I fish better when slightly under the influence of alcohol? However the conclusion that I have come to is simple. As I wasn't feeling great, I made the decision to just 'chuck out the tip rod and see how it goes' but in reality what I did was kept it simple and stuck to the plan and allowed it to work on the day, I didn't confuse matters by trying this and trying that to make it work which I have often been guilty of. Normally on this water I would set up 2 tip rods, a pellet waggler rod and sometimes a pole as well so I am thinking now, how many times in the past have I ended up not giving a method chance to work in the search for that instant reward. Food for thought and I will definitely be taking these thoughts into future matches.

Tight Lines

Day Bream Believer.........

Worthington Lakes - Arley Reservoir

Sunday 8th March 2015

This was a session that had been on the calendar for a while as me and my old mate Martin managed to find a mutually agreeable day to get on the bank together.  As the day approached, fellow Pem Central member Paul managed to get a day pass off her indoors and so the three of us found ourselves on Arley Reservoir, which is the largest of the 3 waters available at Worthington lakes. We pegged ourselves in a new area for me, on the bank between Arley and Worthington, taking up the section to the right of the towers up to the overflow. Martin was closest to the towers, I was in the middle and Paul was on the right next to the overflow.

View from my peg. It was an overcast day for the most part with showers dominating the day.

We all fished the feeder for the day. My set up was slightly different than I normally do on here, opting for a running feeder rig over my normal paternoster set up. I started on a 2ft hooklength to a size 14 Drennan Carbon Feeder hook. I had to make a further variation on my normal tactics as the tackle shop was out of my favourite Omen groundbait so I went for the Sensas Magic sweet fishmeal groundbait this time. Sensas Magic is a groundbait I have a lot of confidence in having used it extensively but this was the first time I have tried the sweet fishmeal version. To complete my bait tray, I had some red/white mixed maggot and half a pint of caster.

Once set up I started off with a large feeder and no hooklength to put a carpet of feed down. As I wasn't sure how the venue had been fishing I was slightly cautious and restricted my initial bombardment to just 5 feeder fulls before switching to a smaller feeder and adding the hooklength.

The obligatory £1 side bet was placed on the first fish between me and Paul. Martin was non-committal which back-fired on him when he caught the first fish of the day and missed out on the valuable golden nugget. Incidentally, the first fish for Martin was a nice Roach.

The heat was on between me and Paul, so I could feel the tension in the air as my tip shot round and I tentatively played my first fish to the net. The result was a nice Roach, but more importantly I had claimed bragging rights and that all important golden nugget (for now).

First fish of the day for me

As it happened Paul only just missed out on the golden nugget as he reeled in his first fish shortly after me.  Losing the quid had obviously hit Paul hard as he was soon to suggest a double or nothing second bet on the first to catch a Bream - feeling greedy from my earlier victory I immediately accepted the challenge without considering the fact that despite not blanking at the venue, I had yet to catch a proper Bream and Paul had bagged them in every session we had on there last year. My luck soon ran out as Paul was soon landing the first proper Bream of the day, quietly giggling to himself as he did so. So the bets had cancelled themselves out and from this point on, it was only pride at stake.

First Bream of the day for Paul

My second fish of the day turned out to be a small skimmer, which I am certain would not have counted as a Bream anyway. Martin had also added a second fish to his tally so we were having a 3 way tie on the fish count. As the day went on from this point, Martin was getting steadily frustrated with missing what was obviously Perch bites, but at least he was intermittently getting some of the Perch to the bank. I also had started to catch Perch, many of which didn't even register a bite on the tip and I only noticed when I was winding in to refill the feeder. Paul however was much slower on catching but when he did, he made up for it by sliding more slabs over the net. The longer the day went on, my dreams of catching the elusive Bream were fading fast as even the Perch had stopped biting at this stage. Not surprisingly the banter was also escalating as my bragging rights were taken away by Paul. I was clutching at any straw available to explain away my lack of success but none would be accepted. Eventually I managed to get into a few more fish, sadly they were the ever willing Perch that I was hoping to avoid. (Quite ironic really that I had spent the winter lure fishing on the canals, hoping for a Perch and getting nothing, now when I don't want them, they were more than happy to oblige). I managed to sneak a second nice roach before Paul slammed the final nail in the coffin with what was probably his biggest of the day.

Not a bad end to the day.

3 o'clock was soon upon us and that was when we called time on the day. Another good days fishing on Worthington with good company, good banter and no dry nets. Sadly the Bream evaded me and Martin today. Martin managed a good number of Perch and probably had the most fish on the day, Paul was master Bream slayer and yet again I was left missing the slab I am longing to find on this venue.

Couple of points I'll consider going forward from here:

1. Generally, I end up casting further than Paul when we go to Worthington and feeder fish. He also always out fishes me on this method too. So I think in future sessions I need to make a conscious effort to cast slightly shorter than usual.

2. Confidence makes a difference and whilst it probably had nothing to do with the groundbait mix I was using, I will definitely be making sure I get some Omen for my next session on here.

3.  The pegs on this bank were quite snaggy, especially for Martin who was closest to the corner. 

4.  The deeper water seemed to work better today. On my swim, I had a 13 count on the cast whilst Paul claimed to have a 20 count. Could this have been a contributing factor to Paul's success today?

Not sure when my next outing will be now as I have a few personal commitments over the next few weeks, through which I am going to miss the first match on Pems calendar this year but at worst I should be out for Pems second match on Rosemary Wood on the last weekend of the month.