The story so far........

In my recent posts, I have said I would provide an update on the league standings in Pem Central.

The results are now up to date and I will report on the top 3.

Currently sitting top of the shop is Alex Yates on 72 points. Following up in second place is Mark Anglessey on 78 points. Sitting in joint 3rd place on 80 points is Wayne Fairhurst and yours truly.

Tight at the top and with only 15 points seperating the top 6 anglers it's all to play for in our remaining 4 matches. 

The last matches are Partridge Lakes Covey 6, Hall Lane Gwen's canal, Rosemary Wood Moss Lake and Heronbroon Meadow Pool.

Fingers crossed I can put a good run in on those last 4 matches.

Whitmore East Canal............I think

After missing the last match with Pem, I was really looking to this match but the day could've started a bit better. After oversleeping a bit and forcing myself into a rush to get ready, I then had what we will call a 'maggot incident' in the kitchen that delayed me further. When I eventually got on the road down to pick up Wayne, I'd realised I'd left my trolley at home. So back home I go and eventually we are on the road and heading to the fishery. 

Always one of the highlights of trips to Whitmore and first order of the day was to indulge in one of the full month breakfasts. I think this is one of, if not the best fishery breakfast around. After scoffing that down my mid soon switched from fishing to lying down on the bank with my belt undone but duty called.

The draw put me on peg 1, which was lucky in some respects as I didnt need to drag my gear and a gut full of breakfast a long way. My peg looked ok although it did look like the water level was a bit low as half my near shelf was exposed and plumbing up didn't reveal much better. I decided to focus on 3 lines. Tight across to the bank I manage to find a few areas where one rig set about 8 inches deep would cover all areas. On the slope at about 11 metres and short on 2+2 where one rig set about 2 1/2 foot would do both. Bait wise, I decided to try a mix of marukyu jpellets and Skrill pellets in - mix of 2 and 4 mm. Hook pellets for the day was either jpellets or Skrill soft hookers, JPz or banded hard pellet. I also had a pint of maggot (or what was left of a pint) as a backup option. At the all in I started off fishing the 11metre line and after feeding a small pot of pellets, I went over with a soft hooker. Now these new soft hookers from marukyu are meant to be a 6mm pellet but I think they are a 'big' 6mm so my hope was that the small fish would leave them alone and I'd hopefully be able to pick off the bigger ones.......or at least that was the plan. I didn't have I wait long for indications and a proper bite followed shortly after. Sadly the big fish plan didn't work and what I landed was a tiny roach of about 1.5 inches long. What followed was a run of these small fish, interrupted by just one carp of around 14oz. The small fish were just to difficult to get through and honestly I don't even know how they were doing it, I had a look at the smaller fish and their mouths weren't even big enough to take the pellets, I can only assume they were sucking the flavour out of the pellet and accidentaly pricking themselves on the hook. A change was in order so I dumped another pot of feed in the 11 metre line and had a look across to the far bank. This swim proved a tough nut to crack as a combination of cross winds, and long overhanging grass meant presenting the bait was very difficult and when I did get to present properly there were no signs of activity to keep me interested. I soon abandoned this line and looked short after putting another pot of bait on the 11m line. The short swim was busy enough but once again was plagued by the small fish. I was now beginning to fear that another session similar to our match on old hough, where I couldn't get through the smaller species, was on the cards. Having fed quite heavily on the 11metre line, I decided it was now the time to have a look and this seemed to have done the trick a bit, whilst the bigger carp were not there, I did manage to put some better roach and ide in the net, along with some good skimmers, tench and a lone barbel. Looking around me at this stage, I could see John Ruddy on the next peg had caught well through the match and put a good net of silvers together with a few bonus carp to boost his weight so I knew that I was well behind but to the other side of me I could see that a few of the lads were either about the same or slightly less than me so I was still positive of a decent result and kept plugging away on this line to the end of the match, hoping others has struggled along the way. When the all out sounded, I was guessing I had around 15lb.

In this match I learned a valuable lesson about checking pole elastic. 3 of my top kits, all with the same elastic, had snapped at the connector at some point in the match. 2 luckily enough were whilst I was handling the rigs or pulling out of the grass on the far bank so didn't result in list fish but one sadly did and it was the last fish of the day and what felt by far would have been my biggest. The elastics I had in the kits are ones that I had used all winter and all year so far, so I am under no illusions that the snap was due to fair wear and tear rather than being a poor elastic and in future I will e checking more often.

At the weigh in, early weights would show that it wasn't going to be my day for a decent position as weights of 32lb and 24lb were recorded on the first 2 weighs. A few more in the 20s followed. Around on my section of the lake, weights were a little bit lower and at my peg I managed to put 18lb on the scales. Last to weigh in, John Ruddy recorded 34lb to win the match. Well done John. My weight put me 8th in the match but I managed a controversial section win by default.

Overall, not the greatest days fishing which wasn't helped by the weather but as always, it's good to get out and get on the bank regardless. No weekend off this time and next Saturday, the club are taking on Partridge Lakes Covey 6, a lake  where I am hoping my previous experience on Covey 5, will put me in with a chance of a decent place, we will see.!!

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.