Teams of 4 Dandy's Ford Fishery.

First blog for a long time, sorry about that have been very busy!

Not really done a lot of fishing as have been working most weekends, so it was nice to get out and try and catch a few fish under match conditions. So it was off to the very picturesque Dandy's Ford Fishery for the re-arranged teams of 4, as Witherington was still flooded. I picked up John in the van, and headed for breaky before arriving at the fishery. The weather forecast was good, ( makes a nice change ! ) and despite a couple of hard frosts I was hopeful for a few bites. (  A few of us had been down for a sneaky bit of practice mid week! ) I was on Lodge lake, and got drawn peg 17, it is tucked away in the corner, but not right in the corner. I was not entirely happy with the draw, as I was the only one on the lake without an island chuck! And as it turned out I could only fish the pole at a maximum of  7m!

I sat on my box for a few minutes to asses what I was going to do. A 7m margin swim in front of the pallet on my right, I would of liked to of gone longer into the corner but the angle of the pallet made that impossible. Fish were moving in the reeds beyond it, so I was confident of a few moving over that swim. A 4m margin swim to my left, and three 7m swims around the clock, in front of me. I couldn't go anywhere else, even if I wanted to! Margins were 0.16 straight through to a 911-16, attached to Browning green hollow, fairly tough for the time of year, but if I hooked any I wanted them out! Open water swims were 0.12 rigs to a yellow Browning hollow, 911 f1-18/20. 

Lodge lake, peg 17, top left hand corner for my sins! ( courtesy of google earth! )

I was going to keep it simple on the feed front, micros and expanders on the open water swims, and maggot or corn in the margins. At the all in I cupped half a pot of micros and expanders into the open water swims, and some maggot to my left hand margin, and some corn in front of the pallet on my right hand side. I rotated between the open water swims for half an hour, not so much as a float tremble! So I slipped a grain of corn onto my margin rig and lowered it in front of the pallet swim. It buried after a minute, and after a short struggle a nice 2lb er was in the net. That fish instantly put me second on the lake as no one else ( apart from the the far end peg ) was catching anything! I had another go down there, it took 10 minutes or so to get a second bite, this time a nice fish of 5lb.  Apart from the odd small roach not a lot else was being caught, so I made my mind up to attack the margins and do a waiting game, especially as I had a couple of fish in the net.

It took a good hour and an half before the next bite, that turned out to be foul hooked and I lost it near the net. I did keep looking in the open water swims, but they were a non starter. Half way through the match and I hooked quite a lump which gave me the runaround, I got it out from the pallet just, and subsequently lost it in some Lilly's! ( rusty!, or just crap! ) after that commotion I let the right hand swim settle and had a look on the left margin. I hooked a fish of 4lb on the maggot instantly, which turned out to be only fish out of that swim all day. Dave Tucker came wandering around, and after a bit of a chat I set up a shallow margin swim right next to the bank, next to the pallet. It was about a foot deep, it was very clear, but I could see carp floating around under the pallet and hoped I could fool a few in coming my way! 

I trickled some maggots into the swim, the silvers weren't feeding so getting pestered by them wasn't a problem. It took a while before the float dipped, buried and hell broke loose! The water erupted as I was attached to a very angry carp that didn't like being caught in a foot of water! After a struggle I slipped the net under a nice fish of 7lb. It was definitely a waiting game and the swim had to settle for some time before I had another angry encounter! They definitely don't like getting hooked in that shallow water! Luckily for me ( or good skill! ) I got them out into the relative safety of open water, and away from the pallet. I had three fish out of there all of a similar stamp, and they all gave me a good tussle. No bites in the last half hour, was hoping for one more as I was catching the end peg up! 

The scales came around and I weighed 32lb 4oz. Good enough for second on the lake, and a pick up! I needed one more for a lake win, but felt I had done well out of a very restricted swim. The team had had a good match, top points scorers on the day, and put us back in to contention in the league, with three rounds remaining. Witherington should be fishable by then, if the rains let up! 

White Acres Dynamite Baits Festival.

Day 1. Bolingey.
The weather forecast for the week ahead wasn't good, wind and rain, so much so it buggered the camera! So no piccys! First port of call was Bolingey, peg 38, which was in the corner nearest the car park so an easy walk! I was quite looking forward to it as I had a nice margin to work. The weather hadn't arrived yet but as the day went on it was getting grayer and colder! I set up a meat margin line, it was very shallow only 10 inches deep, and went away gradually. I set up an 0.18 straight through to a 14 hook. Also a line out straight in front of me at 13m, 0.16 straight through to a 16 hook. I started on the 13m line with a toss pot and meat, I had a couple but had to wait for the bites, in the mean time I was trickling meat onto the margin line. The fish were in there but not getting their heads down, and every time I went over their heads with a pole they were gone. I played around with some paste, but that never worked, I also went up in the water for a bit as the bloke opposite had a couple almost instantly , it never worked for me but at least it stopped him from catching! Three hours in and the margin line came to life, the fish were stirring the bottom up and getting their heads down. It was a bite a chuck for an hour before they went again, and that was about it for the rest of the match. The fish weighed 70lb. This was good enough for top half of the section, and a reasonable start to the festival.

Day 2. Pollawyn.
After very heavy rain and severe gales in the night, ( it felt like the caravan was going to take off at one point! ) it was with some trepidation that we ventured onto Pollawyn. Peg 52, not a good draw in a corner down one of the arms, it did have an island to fish to at 16m but in the gusting gales which spun me off my box just plumbing up, I knew it wasn't going to be an easy day. As said I did set a rig up for the island, an 0.14 straight through to a 16. Also a line at 7m 0.12-0.10 18, hopefully for some skimmers, and a margin line which looked nice down to my left, 0.14 straight through to a 16. As the wind was horrendous, I didn't want to be fishing the long line for to long. After ten minutes of starting my game plan went pear shaped as a suitably strong gust of wind took care of a number 4 and 5 section! Much swearing, and telescoping later, I decided that the fish were welcome to the island and would concentrate on the shorter lines! It took me an age to get a bite on the 7m line, and things were not looking good. Heavy squally showers and strong gusting winds were making the day even more miserable than it was already! Over half the match had gone and I was struggling for bites, I even resulted in going back onto the long island line, albeit without much success! None of the lines were working and it was time for a complete change of tact. I began putting the maggot out onto the top two in front of me, using the same rig as on the 7m line as the depth was similar. It was a bite a chuck, from roach and the odd skimmer or small f1. At the all out I weighed in 18lb of silvers, or as I call it plippy fishing! My only regret was not doing it earlier, it would of saved me a lot of hassle and pole sections, and I know I could have doubled or even trebled that weight if I had done it from word go. Second to last in section, not a good day but a valuable lesson learnt, don't ignore the silvers! I think a few whiskeys were called for!

Day 3 Jenny's.
After drowning my sorrows with john in the pub, my head would soon be cleared as it was blowing an absolute hooley! I dropped John off at Trewaters, and had to admit I felt sorry for him, the wind was straight in his face on his peg, He will be needing much whiskey later! I had pulled peg 19, normally in fairer conditions it is a reasonable peg. It has feeder chuck to a point on one the islands on Jenny's. This was the main line of attack, I did set up a 5m line but it was nearly impossible to fish this as the wind was so strong! I set up a method, and clipped up, the wind was that strong I had to punch the feeder over until it hit the clip. It was clear almost instantly that the fish were in the shelter of the island, and not on the point! You could see fish topping in the quieter water, not a good sign! One decent carp and some f1's, and I weighed in 29lb, second to last in section again! The weather had affected the fishing quite badly, and turned my reasonable peg into a poor one! Or I had one or the other! The pole line was a non starter, as it was virtually unfishable! After collecting John from Trewaters, who was frozen solid from being in the teeth of it all day, we thawed out in front of the fire and poured ourselves into the whiskey bottle, well it seemed like the right thing to do!

Day 4, Trelawney.
Day 4 and yes more wind and rain! John described it as a survival mission rather than fishing, and I had to agree with him! Any way peg 10 on Trelawney was destination for my day of wind and rain burn! I fished the same peg in last years festival, albeit in better conditions! Method to the island, and a short 5m pole, it was to windy to go any further, plus I didn't want any more broken sections! An 0.14 rig on the 5m line, which I was going to feed with meat to hopefully get some carp going on. Chucking the method for an hour only resulted in a couple of f1's, so I switched to the short line. It was still hard to control the float so I upped it to a heavier one to help combat the tow. After a while I began to catch a few Fish on the short line. A few f1's with a couple of better carp late on was the result. 34lb for mid way in section, it was clear that the fish wanted to be in quieter water, less affected buy the wind, following the scales and anyone with calmer water had had a reasonable weight, plus they could present a bait much better. Back to the caravan to dry off and thaw out again, more whiskey required!

Day 5, Porth Reservoir.
Final day and the weather had calmed a little, it was still windy with showers only not so rough as the previous days! Checking the results on Porth, and it seemed like the fishing had been getting worse all week, just what we needed! Peg 72, so the gear had a boat trip over. Setting up a light feeder rod with a soft tip was the order of the day and I clipped up at 30 turns. I did set up a 1.5 gram rig for fishing at 13m, hoping that a few fish might be there. I started on the tip after giving the pole line a few balls. It was clear it was going to be a very hard day, the bites were very tentative and there was nothing on the pole line at all. I was working the tip and casting regularly, but they just weren't having it. A long five hours and I weighed in 2lb 09oz, last in section! But only 1lb off coming second in the section! Just shows how tough the section was! The section and lake was won buy the end peg who sat it out on the method and boilies, and latched into 4 bream for 17lb! Well that was my festival over for another year, and can be summed up with crap weather, bad pegs, and indifferent fishing, at least the company was good ( thanks John ) and can take solace that we have helped keep the whiskey reserves down! ( purely medicinal of course! )

Viaduct Fishomania 14/04/12

Before going onto White Acres for a festival, I was booked into the fisho at Viaduct, "en route" so to speak. I was travelling down with team mate John Dewberry, and we had both said that if the big fish in spring lake didn't feed that you needed to be on Campbell. So after a bit of banter it was to the draw, John was first, peg 114 on Campbell, a very good peg in the area you wanted to be on the lake. I was next, 119, not to bad it's in a corner, and usually in matches it has a bit of room, but not in the fisho as every peg is used. Arriving at my peg it was obvious that my options were limited, so a two prong attack based around meat was the order of the day. I couldn't go beyond 14.5m without inter fearing with the peg on the end bank ( which is not normally in) so a line was going to be here, as well as the long margin down to my right towards the tree, depending on how brave I was feeling!

An 0.16 rig straight through to a green hollow for the line at 14.5m in front of me, an up in the water rig on similar tackle in case they come up in the water, as i was intending to feed a few pieces of meat regularly with a catapult. Some stronger gear was needed for the margin line as the fish can bolt straight into the tree, so 0.18 straight through to orange "bungee" elastic should do the trick! I was going to start at 13m down the edge, before if needed going brave at 14.5m, which is dangerously close to the tree and just asking for trouble! At least at 13m I had a chance! At the all in I cupped a small amount of meat down the edge at 13m, I didn't want to spook them to early, as I felt the fish needed to settle after the commotion of everyone setting up and getting to there pegs etc.

I started on the depth rig and started trickling a few pieces of meat round the float, after ten minutes or so I had my first bite and was latched onto my biggest fish of the day of about 9lbs, after a hard fight it was in the net and a nice start. It took another 15 minutes or so before the next one this time one of 4lbs. One more followed in the first hour, before a time to switch to the margin line. I had three fish almost instantly, having to throw the pole behind me in a bid to stop the carp from making it to the tree. The bites dried up and it was obvious that the fish had backed off into the tree, so I trickled a bit of bait at 14.5m, hoping that I could get them out before they do a Ray Mears and "go bush"! It took a while for another bite, I would get a couple then I would have to wait for the fish to get their confidence back and venture out from their lair! apart from the first hour I never had another bite out in open water that's despite feeding it regularly. The end of the match was fast approaching and I was still getting a bite or two, but not enough, the fish were very cagey, despite that I was enjoying the match and not once did I loose one in the tree! (I would say skill but plenty would say i was just lucky!) at the all out I had beaten all those around me, but could see fish being caught further down the lake. I weighed in 54lb 12oz, good enough for third in section. Commiseration's must go out to John, who had had a good match on 114, just missing out on qualifying by one fish, finishing second overall picking up some coin, not the big money cheque of the final, but at least a bit of beer money, I fear he might need much beer and whiskey, just to get him through the week! It was nice to pull a peg from the hat that I felt that I had a chance to compete on, other than the total dross that I normally pull at fishos! The way I look at it someone has to pull them, so it might as well be me!

Cottage Lake, Witherington farm.

Team duties for a round of the teams of 4 at Witherington Farm. This time I was on Cottage, one of the lakes, at least it makes a change from the snake! I was hoping for an island draw, so I could get the chance of using a rod, but got drawn out peg 7, an all out pole swim! Peg 7 is a nice corner peg, with a nice cut out at 14.5m in the margins. Keith had fished the peg in a match the week before, so armed with his info I headed to my peg.

Arriving at my peg, the first job was to clear out the floating weed that had gathered in the cut out in the corner, a couple of nets round and it was done. I needed to do this as I had a feeling I would be spending quite a lot of the match in there! Three lines were set up, the obvious in the corner, one at 5m in front of me and a third at 13m. I set two rigs up in the corner, one at the bottom of the slope, and one a foot deep, up the slope, Keith said he'd had a few catching up the slope, so I set up a small dibber type float on 0.16 straight through to a 16 hook to green hollow to cover this. The second rig was set up for the bottom of the slope in the corner, and whilst plumbing up I had a couple of line bites with the plummet on, a good sign and an instant decision was made that I wouldn't dump a pot full of bait in there and that I would feel my way in. It was a similar line and elastic to the shallower rig, just a small 4x12 bodied float, as I had 2 1/2 ft of water at the bottom of the slope. An 0.12 to 0.10 rig was set up for the other two lines as I had the same depth, this was married to a nice soft set yellow hollow.

I had a mixture of dampened micros and 4mm pellets, and some meat cubed up, as well as corn and some expanders. At the all in I cupped in half a pot of 4mm/micro mix with a few cubes of meat on the 5m and the 13m line, and went straight into the margin line. I slipped a piece of meat onto the deeper margin rig and lowered it into the corner, after a few minutes the float buried and i was attached to a very angry carp, it gave me a quite a tussle before slipping the net under it. Just in the nick of time too as my 911 hook was virtually straight and could of slipped it's hold any second! A good 8lb fish and a nice start. I went in again this time with a few pieces of meat in the toss pot, I just felt it would be wrong to dump bait in there and decided just to toss pot bait in. A couple of smaller carp followed before the bites slowed in the corner. I decided to leave the corner for a bit and had a look on the other lines, one small carp on the 13m line was the result. That fish was all I had on that line all day, despite topping it up regularly. I did have a few skimmers on the 5m line, but I was having to work and wait for a bite. Other anglers around me were catching skimmers and silvers a lot quicker than I was.

Swapping back to the corner swim and a couple of nice carp was the result, it went a bit slow so I switched to the shallower rig. This had the desired affect and the next bite resulted in the pole being slammed round as a good size carp grabbed my meat hookbait. A few more followed before it slowed again. Keith's info had helped put a few more fish in the net. Swapping to the 5m line again resulted in only a couple more skimmers, they didn't seem to want to settle properly, and were away from the corner. The last hour was very slow for me, the carp had deserted me from the corner, and the skimmers weren't playing ball. At the all out I felt I had done ok and I still felt I had done enough to beat the anglers around me. I weighed in 52lb 14oz, beating all around me and good enough for 3rd on the lake, and a small pick up which is always nice! The team had a good day, and are catching up the leaders. Ive had a busy few days since the above match, prepping all my gear for a fishomania match at Viaduct and a White Acres festival, hopefully the drawing gods will be with me and I'll get a few half decent swims, if not I will have to drown my sorrows in the bar!!

Witherington Farm open. 01/04/12

Back to Withy's inner snake lake, and the weather conditions were similar to two weeks earlier, with a sharp overnight frost. After the usual hearty breakfast, the draw was done and I pulled peg 80 out of the bag, a quick £1 side wager with John, just to keep him on his toes and it was off to my peg. It was a comfortable 13m across to the far bank and I had erasable depth at just over 2ft. This was going to be my opening gambit, I set up a 0.12 rig to yellow hollow 18 hook for this line. For the track line I set another yellow hollow this time with an 0.10 hook length 18 hook for the skimmers. Finally down in the margins either side with green hollow 0.14 rig 16 hook.
I had corn, 4mm meat and some 4mm pellets. I fed half a small pot of meat and pellets down the track at the all in before going over to the far bank with corn. I new it would be slow but I never even had an indication. To make matters worse either side had had a lump apiece ! I was now on "catch up" it took me over an hour before I had my first fish, a carp of just over a 1lb. The far swim was just not responding at all so I put half a pot of corn and pellet in, hoping some fish would settle. I had been trickling in the meat and pellets down the track and it was now time to have a look on it. Buy now the lads either side were catching odd smaller fish whist I still had the one! After a couple of missed bites I hooked the first skimmer on the track line on 4mm meat. Over the next couple of hours I Managed to string some skimmers together, the biggest about a 1 lb. They weren't exactly jumping on the hook and I was having to wait for a bite. I did keep checking the far line and the margins, but with no indications I decided to concentrate down the track for the last hour.
After a couple of more skimmers I hooked a carp, a nice bonus of about 3lb. A few more skimmers followed, and with quarter of an hour to go I hooked a lump, a bit of careful playing on the pull bung and it slid into my landing net. About a 7lb fish, and a nice bonus. I had one more skimmer before the all out. I felt I had caught up with either side and the scales had proven me right, I weighed in 20lb 14oz. I had beaten the anglers either side of me, but only just. A hard match which I had to work for every bite. It was unusual that the far line didn't produce, but the track line had come to the rescue. I came 7th overall, but I did loose my £1 back to John, look after it I will be winning it back!

Orchard Lakes 25/03/12

A trip to bagging venue Orchard lakes was next for me, with the spell of settled warm weather, albeit with frosty mornings, hopefully a big weight was on the cards. Fishing against some of the regulars is a challenge, as they allow some interesting methods at Orchard, plus they know all the up to date info. I pulled out peg 19 out of the draw bucket, not the best as 18 is better as it is sort of in the top corner and has more features. I decided to keep it simple, 2 lines, and a throw away one. A Line tight across at 14.5m, 0.14 rig to yellow hollow, a top 2 line down to my right, they can come very close and you need this line to work for the big weights. 0.16 rig to green hollow. And the throw away line at 5m, down the track.
I was hoping to get them going on the close margin line, but with the overnight frost I had feeling this might be a bit slow to begin with. I had plenty of meat cubed up, and a load of pellet and that was it! Nice and simple! At the all in I cupped a big pot of pellet on the 5m line line and started to loose feed the close swim meat and pellet. I started off across with meat on the hook and feeding through a toss pot, instantly rewarded with a few nice size fish. I was constantly feeding the close swim, meat and pellets every few seconds, hoping to switch them on. You do get through the bait though!
I did have a look every 20 minutes or so, but despite catching the odd one in the margins they had not "switched on" yet. So I carried on across, catching steadily, and regularly feeding the close line. I had a quick look on the 5m line, but nothing doing so I binned it to concentrate on the close line. It took 3 hours before I got them going properly on the close line, which was just in time, as the chap to my left was now catching a lot faster than I was across. Up to the 3 hour mark I had had 40 fish for about 40lb. Now the close line had come to life my catch rate had gone up and it was a case of catch and feed. I cut out the pellet and just fed meat.
The last 2 hours was very busy, a constant stream of fish, a mixture of sizes ranging from a few ounces to 4lb. I never really slowed until the last ten minutes, by this time I was knackered anyway! I had got through a lot of bait but felt things had gone well, at the scales I weighed in 138lb 06oz. My best weight at Orchard, giving me 5th overall and just missing out on the section by 2oz! A good day out, tiring but enjoyable none the less, but I couldn't fish it every week like some of them do, it's nice to bag up now and again, but it does make your arm ache!

Witherington Farm Team knock up.

Next outing was a Browning Andover team get together on Witherington's inner snake lake. This is the first time we had all got together for some friendly fishing rivalry! We had a new face, Ian Madden, and a guest from Crowsport, Justin Watkins with his new z12. After a suitably good breakfast the draw was made and we ventured forth. I was pegged next to our honorary match secretary John Dewberry, so a £1 side wager was on! A sharp overnight frost was sure to make the fishing a little slow for all as the snake is not the easiest place when it gets a little chilly. Three swims, one tight across, where I found some reasonable depth, an 0.12 rig to yellow hollow, down the track with an 0.10 rig to a very soft set yellow hollow, and a margin line, which was an 0.14 to green hollow.
I had some corn, 4mm meat, and some 4mm pellets, plus a few soft expanders. At the all in I started on a grain of corn and fed some chopped corn, it's a trick that has caught me a few fish in the past at Witherington. It took a good half an hour before I hooked my first small carp, it was definitely fishing tricky. I fed a small pot of meat and pellets down the track with the intention of leaving it for a good hour before fishing it. A couple more small carp followed across before it went very quiet. Stu and John either side of me were struggling as well and no one seemed to be setting the world alight so to speak.
Time for a look on the track rig, a couple of indications and a couple of missed bites before I hooked a skimmer on a piece of 4mm meat. I kept plugging away, feeding through a tosspot, putting a few more skimmers in the net. I had been feeding corn in the margins and kept having a look, but there was nothing doing. Not much was doing tight across either so I persevered down the track. Towards the end of the match I hooked quite a lump, I thought I had it under control until it decided otherwise and tour off to the far bank and transferred my hook to some reeds! One last small carp followed for the end of the match. It definitely was a case of working for every bite, and ended up being quite a cold day. At the scales I weighed 14lb odd, just enough to beat John and relieve him of his "golden nugget! " ( I am sure he will get his own back! ) An enjoyable day but tricky fishing for all as the fish never really switched on for anyone.