Big Dipper's Angling Diaries

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Woodshaw Reservoir

Woodshaw Reservoir

Sunday 19th April 2015

With me missing my next match due to me getting involved in some stag do frolics, I was anxious to get a pleasure session in sometime - otherwise it would be a long wait until the next match I can attend on the 9th May. So it was very nice of Mrs Fishernutstu to give me a free pass today to visit Woodshaw Reservoir.  Woodshaw is another water on the Warrington card and this was set to be only my second visit to the venue ever.

On arrival at the water, there were already a few anglers on, which meant that the pegs I was thinking of trying were already occupied. A quick chat with the bailiff for some advice saw me make my way to peg 15. Under advice, I set up my stall to fish the short pole for the day. I set up 3 rigs - 1 to fish to my right and left on 5 sections, in the same depth of water about a metre from the bank, the other 2 were straight in front of me at 6 sections, one on the deck and one up in the water. Woodshaw is only a shallow venue so none of my rigs were much more than about 3 1/2 feet deep.

Bait choices for the day were to be quite simple. I had a pint of maggot and half a pint of caster for fishing straight in front me and softened 4mm pellets for the left and right swims. I pumped a mixture of 4 and 6 mm expanders for the hook as well as having a small selection of soft hookers.

To start my session off I put in a cad pots worth of pellets on the left and right swims and then went out on the middle swim with a maggot hook bait and the bottom rig. Catapulting maggot over the top I was instantly catching small palm sized Roach, each taking the maggot hook bait before the float had settled.  After 15 mins or so of this routine it was clear these Roach were there in numbers and were never going to let my bait get to the deck so I changed tactics slightly and potted in a large pot of maggots and pellets and switched from a bulk and 2 dropper set up to fishing the bulk just above my 6inch hooklength. Whilst this worked in the sense of being able to get my bait to the bottom, it was still only small Roach and the odd skimmer that were taking whatever hook bait I put in front of them. Feeling this is not the kind of day I wanted, I put in another large pot of maggot and pellets and picked up the rig for my left hand swim.  Filling my cad pot with pellets and going with a 6mm expander, I placed my rig in and waited - my thoughts were on the reported Crucians and Tench that inhabited this water and I was wondering if they had started to wake up. Well it wasn't long before I got my answer as a nice Crucian of around 1lb was happily swimming round in circles on the surface in front of me as my float sat motionless - was it going to be one of those days? Thankfully the answer was no, as out of the blue my float dipped beneath the surface and I was soon playing a nice fish to the net - I can't decide for myself if this is a Crucian, a Brown Goldfish or a hybrid of the two (could it even be a dreaded F1)?

This seemed to be a trigger as I was getting bites frequently on this line for a while from this point. The small Roach and Skimmers were still there in numbers but at least on this line they were complimented by some bonus fish in the shape of some decent, odd looking hybrids, Tench, larger skimmers to 2lb and Definite Crucians.

This line generally produced for the rest of the session. During odd quiet spells I tried the right hand swim but this produced nothing and I also picked up my shallow rig every now and again and had fun picking off shallow Roach on caster, some were coming in at a nice size too. Eventually the sun came out and it was right in my eyes so I called time on the session at around 2:30pm, quite satisfied and looking forward to coming back to Woodshaw when the fish had properly woken up.

It'll be a couple of weeks now until I get out again so I'll be doing some housekeeping with the tackle in that time, mainly changing reel lines and pole elastics - incidentally I have opted to give Nick Gilbert's pole elastics a try this time based on many recommendations from friends.

Until the next time - tight lines

Old Hough Fisheries - Big Max

Old Hough Fisheries - Big Max

Saturday 11th April 2015

As I approached the latest match in Pem Centrals calendar, there was a high expectation of a good day on the cards. We had started to see some improved weather over the Easter weekend that had continued into the week, catch reports at the fishery, and at many others, were showing signs that the fish were finally on the move and I was going into the match with a win under my belt from the previous match. All ingredients for a good day on the bank.  So......it was probably quite predictable that as the weekend approached the warm settled weather we had was due to make way for overnight rains, lower temperatures and increased winds. Very typical.

Not to be down hearted, I went into the match with optimism. After stopping by the butty van in Middlewich for a tasty barm and a good chat, the lads made our way to the fishery. By the time we were doing the draw, the rain had all but stopped and we were left with just the strong winds which seemed to be coming across us regardless of where we were pegged. My draw put me on fishery peg 4. On this peg I had the corner of the island to in front of me as well as an empty corner to my left with an aerator.

Peg 4 - Home for the day

In a bid to keep things simple, I decided that I would fish this match with a 2 line approach. I set up a banjo feeder to fish to the island, and also give me the option to cast to my left near the aerator; I had softened micros for the feeder with various pellets and bandums for the hook. The other line was a long pole line at 14.5 metres were I would feed softened 4mm pellets and corn with pellet and corn options for the hook.

To give me a back up, I also plumbed a margin line but based on pre-match advice, this was only there as a back-up and I had no real intention of devoting much time to it.

At the all-in, I fed a pot of corn and pellets on the 14.5m pole line and then picked up the feeder rod and cast to the island. With the wind coming across from my right, I found casting accurately quite difficult but was just about managing to cast to the island. I stuck on this for approx half an hour but with no bites, not even any liners giving away the presence of fish, I decided it was worth trying the pole. I shipped out to the 14.5 metres but after only a short period of time I realised that this was going to be too difficult a fight against the wind so I was soon picking the feeder rod up again. The pole would have to wait and see if the wind dropped.

This time however, rather than casting to the island I turned to my left and cast towards the aerator in the empty corner of the lake.  Landing just off the right hand corner of the aerator, casting was notably easier in this direction with the wind now coming from behind me.  After a short wait the tip shot round and I was soon playing my first fish of the day which was a nice carp of around 2-3lb.  The switch to the aerator line appeared to be a good move as I steadily caught a number of fish from this line over the next 90 mins and I was feeling confident that I was beating most people I could see at this point, only the guys on the far bank from me were unknown at this point. At around the midway point in the match this line started to slow so to give it a rest, I decided to plumb an extra pole line short at around 5 metres. I fed this the same as the long pole line and went back onto the tip. Despite having a couple of smaller fish from this line it was still noticeably slower than before so I took a look on the short pole line. Presentation was much easier on this line but after 10 or 15 mins with no signs, I felt it was not going to be a day for the pole and decided if I had to sit out for bites, I would do so on the feeder.  What happened next however changed the whole outlook of the match for me as this time, I decided that I would try a cast to the island again as Paul to my right and Frank to his right had picked up a couple of fish on this line. Despite using the same clip that I had set up with, my first cast back on this line saw me land on the island and subsequently snagged.  Despite my best efforts, I couldn't free myself from the snag and had to pull for a break. At this point my head went and despite setting the tip rod back up again and getting back out to the aerator line, I couldn't settle myself back down and felt this affected me for the remainder of the match. I did manage a couple of extra F1s to the net but at the all-out I couldn't help but feel I had wasted an opportunity for a second match win.

As the scales went round, it was obvious that the day had been tough for all. The bank to my left, which was pegs 33 to 28 had produced only 2 weights over 20lb, with Mark Anglesea leading the way on 25lb 4oz. Turning the corner into the far bank from me Denis Darby set a new top weight with exactly 50lb from peg 22. This proved to be the top weight of the day. Ste Green and Dave Benson to the 2nd and 3rd place spots with 29lb 4oz and 28lb from pegs 19 and 12.  I was last to weigh in on the day and my total fell just short of 20lb at 19lb 12oz.  I was a bit disappointed with this result as I felt the peg was worth double that with aerator feature and the wind blowing into it. It was enough to see me finish 7th out of 15 on he day. I did pick up a section win though so not all lost.

Top 3:

1st: Dennis Darby 50lb

2nd: Ste Green 29lb 4oz

3rd: Dave Benson 28lb

Sections (by default):

Section 1: Mark Anglesea 25lb 4oz

Section 2: Stuart Rourke 19lb 12oz

Honourable mention to George Derbyshire who weighed in 12lb 8oz of small silvers, none of which looked to be over 4oz. Well done George.

A further stag do sees me missing Pems next match, which is at Partridge Lakes, so my next scheduled session will be the 9th May when we head down to Heronbrook. Will have to wait and see if I can manage a sneaky session before that date.

Drennan Acolyte Ultra - First outing

Worthington Lakes - Arley Reservoir

Monday 6th April 2015

Now, I love waggler fishing, in particular, I love waggler fishing for silvers but with so little of my time spent doing it due to fishing matches dominated by pole and feeder techniques I have never been able to justify a really good rod for the method. So, with a bonus coming my way I decided it was time to treat myself. After much deliberation (and I mean more than I have done for any other rod purchase before) I settled on the Drennan Acolyte Ultra at 13ft. As you can imagine, once the rod was in my possession, I was keen to get it in use so I settled on a visit to Worthington lakes where I have had good days previously fishing the waggler up in the water - what better way to give it try.

At the venue I decided to fish Arley Reservoir which is the middle of the 3 lakes on offer at Worthington. The red arrow on the image shows where I pegged myself and I had a light but cold wind blowing in my face.

The venue was very foggy as I arrived which made it very cold. I expected the fog to lift as the sun got up but the reality was that I had to wait until midday before it had cleared and started to warm up a bit. 

The view I had for most of my session

Tactics for the day were going to be quite simple. I set up a 4g loaded waggler at around 5ft deep and cast it just as far as I could comfortably catapult my loose feed, which was a good tub of mixed maggot. It doesn't get much simpler than that. On previous sessions, I have been fishing this method here and had  large numbers of Roach, Perch and Hybrids so I was hopeful for a good day - I even took my keepnet in the hope that I could get a nice bag picture for the blog. The fish however had other ideas. After a slow start I managed to christen the rod with a nice Roach.

The Acolyte popped it's cherry with this Roach.

Sport was slow though with long gaps between bites. Eventually, after taking my eyes off the float for a second to pour a coffee, my float was under again and this time there was a bit more resistance at the other end and a short but spirited fight saw me land this 1lb+ skimmer.

Skimmers up in the water

By midday, I had added another 2 Roach and a nice Hybrid to bring my tally to 5. Not exactly the busy session I was hoping for but enough to demonstrate the performance of the wonderfully light and responsive Acolyte, that was truly a joy to use. 

A great piece of kit - Drennan Acolyte Ultra

This was followed by a long baron spell and as I searched the depths between 3 and 7/8ft, the only reward being a brief moment where I hooked one of Arleys resident Carp. I think I foul hooked it to honest as I was sinking my line but after an initial run towards me, the carp just about put a lovely bend in the rod before shooting off like a rocket and straightening the hook. The battle lasted all of about 12 seconds. As I was getting ready for leaving, I decided to empty the keepnet and allow it to dry for an hour whilst I had a few 'last casts'. Disaster struck though as clumsy old me managed to stand on my Daiwa Tournament landing net handle and truly flattened it - well done me. Luckily it was the butt section and I still had a usable landing net as one of the last casts resulted in a final Roach to bring the closing tally to 6.

All in all, an enjoyable day even if it wasn't as productive as I would have initially hoped. The session did however serve its purpose and I am pleased to say that I am the owner of a wonderful piece of kit in the Drennan Acolyte Ultra and I am looking forward to giving it more use in future sessions.

Next session for me will see me back on the match scene as Pemberton Central make their way to Old Hough fisheries to tackle 'Big Max' and I have a winning streak (of 1) to maintain so the pressure is on.