Sea Fishing - Blue Mink Charters

I'm a little late in posting this for one reason or another so might not have the greatest detail. As I mentioned in my last post, I'll first report on the last match on Pem Centrals calendar. The club were on Blundells fishery Ash pool. By all accounts, I didn't miss much with a few of the lads struggling for much of the day. Wayne Fairhurst won the match I believe with a weight of around 50-odd pound so well done Wayne. I'm going to be processing the clubs results soon and getting them up to date so hopefully will be able to give a full season update soon.

On to my last venture and a change of scene was in order as me and a bunch of pals boarded Blue Mink out of Fleetwood for a spot of sea fishing.  Skippered by Andy Bradbury. This trip had a long build up for me as I had been looking forward to it for some time. Once on board we headed out to our first mark of the day where we had hoped to pick up mackerel and codling to start with. Using feathers for the mackerel or baited feathers for the codling and other species, we were putting a few fish on the boat. Most of the mackerel were being kept for eating or for bait later in the day when we were going to try for a few tope. Sadly most of the codling and other species we caught were undersized so most went back safe and sound. We thought we were doing quite well but Andy had decided we needed some help with the mackerel and had a go himself. We were well and truly schooled as he very quickly filled a bucket with mackerel, equivalent to the size it had taken 7 of is to fill in the first half of the day!! After a few hours, we decided enough bait had been caught and we moved off in search of some tope.

My previous best tope was a mere 8/9lb so I was really hoping to beat that today with regular reports of fish over 30lb being boated in previous trips. Using mackerel flappers for bait, it didn't take long for the first of the days tope to be boated, caught by first time boat angler Chris, it was a good fish for him and a good start to the day

The tope were coming regular enough with a some good sized ones coming out inbetween bull Huss and the inevitable doggies. My turn seemed to be taking a while though as the tope seemed to be eluding me but then all of sudden I got a good take from a fish and a good run followed indicating a tope was on the line. After a good scrap, a tope of roughly 15lb came up at the side of the boat, sadly for me though, the fish shed the hook as we were trying to boat it and it got away without me getting my hands on it. Sadly that was my only tope of the day but the other lads put a few on the boat, Derrick Snr was getting amongst them quite regular, this being the best of his

After losing a real good fish earlier on, Darren eventually landed what was probably the second largest of the day, roughly mid 20's.

Finally on the last cast of the day, Derrick Snr's rod screamed off again but this time he passed it over to Derrick Jnr to do the honours. After a good long scrap the largest tope of the day was boated and weighed at 34.5lb 

So a good day was had on the day but I still feel that the big tope is eluding me so hoping that my next outing on the boat on the 15th August will bring the big one my way. Before that however, I'm back on club duties as Pem Central take on Whitmore Fisheries East Canal on the 2nd August.

Tight Lines!!!!!!!!

Old Hough - Upper Bembo

So on Saturday 5th July, Pem Central found themselves heading south to visit Old Hough fisheries again for a match on Upper Bembo.

As usual for our visits this way, we all met for obligatory butties at a middlewich butty van, the name of which escapes me as I am more usually interested what's cooking up in it rather than what's written above it. Today's visit was like all others with the usual banter when Lionel tipped up but parked on the road rather than in the car park. As we observed his strange behaviour we noticed him pull out a sheet of directions and start studying with great concentration and looking all around him, except at us. Club secretary Paul decided to help Lionel out and went to have a chat, at which point Lionel looked round to see Paul staring in his window, he near on shit himself at the sight and have us all a good giggle to set the day off on the right foot. Good old Lionel.

At the fishery, the draw bag put me on peg 11, one peg away from the end peg which was occupied by Phil Lloyd. My initial thoughts about this lake was that it was all F1 fishing, but as the events of the day would prove, I couldn't have been more wrong. Anyway.........my initial plan for the day was to focus on a maggot approach, looking for fish right against the far bank, which was about 15 metres or on the short, 2+2 line. I also had a bed of lily pads off the far bank to my left so I plumbed a line in front of there as a 3rd option. So plan was to fish maggots on all 3 lines, with loose fed live maggots for tight across and short, and dead maggots over groundbait for near the lillies. I did have pellets available as a back up bait but the plan was always to focus on maggots.

As the all in was called I cupped in some groundbait by the lillies and went straight across tight to the far bank with a so gel maggot on the hook, and fed a small cad pot of maggots with it. Immediately my float was active in the swim and seconds later I found myself connected to a 'pin' roach. I put this straight back rather than in the keep net and went back out. Same again. 2 maggots this time as yet again pin roach were the only fish I could find. After trying a 4th time and connecting yet again with those pin roach I decided to put some groundbait on this line with a helping of maggots and leave it to see if anything better moves in. I then decided to have a little look on the lily pad line and with 3 dead reds on the hook I lowered in. After a minute or so my float dinked and I found myself connected to.......a small pin roach. At this point I felt I could be in for a tough day and decided to put this in the keepnet in case these were to be my only quarry for the day, of course I was now starting to regret puttin back the earlier fish. After a couple more attempts to get a bait down on the lily pads, I finally found a way through the pin roach that were taking it on the drop and found my float finally settled with my bait on the bottom. After a while the float shot under and I found myself connected to something much more substantial, things were starting to look up. After a bit of a struggle, I scooped a foul hooked barbel in the net. At least it was a sign of better fish in the swim and with this indication I changed hook to a larger, size 14 and hooked between 8 and 10 dead reds, hoping they would get past the roach and find the barbel on the bottom. Safe to say that whilst it avoided the roach up in the water, on the bottom, even with a size 14 and 10 dead reds I was again catching small roach. Frustration was starting to set in now and I topped up this swim and had another little look onthe far bank line. More roach ended this approach and I was seriously scratchin my head for ideas. All the while I had been loose feeding maggots short so a quick look on the short line was next  however, this approach yielded yet more roach, most of which fell off the hook before I got them in.

At this point I sat back with a brew and had a think. I knew the lake was quite deep down the track so I decided to set up a new rig with a heavier float, the plan being to place most of the shot just above the hooklength to bomb through the roach in the water and the maggots were replaced by softened pellets for feed and banded hard pellet on the hook. After feeding the swim with about half a pot of maggots I went straight over the feed with a banded 4mm pellet. This approach was definitely a waiting game but patience paid off and a lift bite saw me connected to a better fish and I was soon landing a carp of around 1.5lb. Having nearly doubled my weight with that one fish, I stuck to this approach for the remainder of the match an slowly picked up carp and tench between 12oz and a couple of pounds, all of which were caught after getting a lift bite, I don't think I've ever had so many lift bites in one session.

As the match was moving along, Phil had started to catch on the end peg and as usual for Phil when he's catching, his gob starting working hard as well.

At the all out I wasn't sure how I'd done in relation to the rest of the club as I couldn't see many but I know Dean on the opposite bank had caught well on the  end peg opposite Phil. The weigh in started with Phil and when he put a surprisingly low 16lb on the scales, I was praying that my fish would go better after all his gobbing. I put 18lb on the scales, which I had to work hard for but I felt it would put me a long way off the pace.......it did however, give me the opportunity to throw a few words Phils way. The rest of the weigh in proved the point and I was well off the pace. Danny Lancaster won the match with around 48lb with Father and Son duo Mark and Dean Jordan taking 2nd and 3rd place, both with weights over 40lb. My 18lb put me 11th out of 14 but with 2 guests on the match I gained 9 pts for the league.

Next match for Pem is Blundells fishery on Ash lake but due to other commitments I will be missing this match. I will report on the result though. Until next time..........

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.

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.