Dace Fishing On The River Nadder, Salisbury.

I decided to have a few hours pleasure fishing on the River Nadder before the season finishes in a few days, what with one thing and another I hadn't managed to get down to the river until now! So I was looking forward to running a stick float through and hopefully catching some fish. I gave Andy Brooks a call for some info, as he had been fishing the match on the river on Sunday, and low and behold he was at Brunel Road! So I decided to join him.
My Swim at Brunel Road On The Nadder.

I caught up with Andy, had a quick sandwich and a natter, before picking a swim. I set up in a swim that had some slack water on the far side, and decided to fish the crease, I set up a 13ft. waggler rod with a close face reel with 2.6lb main line. A 6 no4 wire stem stick float shotted shirt button style to a carbon chub 18 hook. After about an hour I had a couple of Dace plus numerous Minnows. The wind and sun were getting a problem, so I moved to the swim pictured above. It was narrower than the first and shallower, just below a pinch point in the river with a nice steady flow. I adjusted the depth to about 3ft. First run through and a Salmon Parr snaffled my double maggot hook bait, a few more followed before I hit the first Dace, which put up quite a scrap in the pacy water.

Me With A Nice Size Dace.

Regularly feeding a few maggots kept the bites coming, a few Minnows, Salmon Parr and good size Dace, some of which felt like sandpaper, obviously getting ready for spawning. I was bumping a few fish on the strike, a little frustrating but that's part of the fun of Dace fishing! I was getting a bite a chuck, and I didn't know what it would be next, including some Wild Brown Trout that fight like fury!

A Cracking Hard Fighting Wild Brown Trout.

The bites kept coming, some of which were no more than 10ft. down the swim. Andy packed up and brought me some more maggots, which was handy as I was rapidly running out! The action slowed a little so I packed up about 4 pm. I ended up with a net into double figures, not bad for a few hours! A lovely afternoon and nice way to end the river season on, even if I hadn't been down much!

A Cracking Afternoon's Dace Fishing.

Winter League Semi Final, Gold Valley Lakes.

After a couple of practices for myself and the squad it was time for the semi final. I was looking forward to this as well as being a bit apprehensive as the fishing had been a bit up and down. There is always a buzz around at the pre-match breakfast before a big match and today was no exception. With some big teams and big names involved it was always going to be a struggle. The weather was cold and a keen northerly wind was blowing. A breakfast bap was the first order of the day washed down with a cup of tea and a natter with the rest of the team, before Barry went up for the draw. I was on E5 on Middle lake, just a few pegs further up from where I was on the previous Wednesday. After a quick pep talk and a collection of the bait, it was time to get to my peg. Phil was running the bank today and I had given him my camera, unfortunately I had given him two sets of flat batteries! So apologies to those that didn't get photographed it was my fault! ( I blame the nerves! ) When I got to my peg I found that John was behind me on Gold, so we had a chin wag before setting up.

Phil's "Arty" shot of me fishing on E5, nice!

I set up two feeder rods, one a straight lead, and one a method, both were clipped up to just short of the rope that splits the lake in two. As I had a free peg either side of me I could fish two long pole lines at 10 and 2 o'clock so to speak, as well as one at 5m. A KC chimp 4x16 on 0.12 line to a 18 hook to yellow hollow was set up for the long lines, as well as a heavier 0.14 rig to cover the same lines. A lighter Chimp on 0.10 to a 20 hook on pink hollow was set up on the 5m line. I had about 4ft of water on the long pole lines, but it was a bit deeper close in. I was going to put some chopped worm and caster on one long line and some ground bait and micros on the other, with an initial pot of choppy on the 5m line, which would be loose fed after with maggot. After a quick comfort break back at the clubhouse it was time to settle down to the match. The hooter sounded and I cupped in some ground bait and micros on one of the long pole lines, and chopped worm on the other, as well as a small pot on the 5m line.


Keith netting a carp.

I started on the lead with hair rigged corn and cast it to the rope, after 20 minutes with not so much as a line bite I had a cast with the method. I left it in for a good while but again no indications. The guy to my right had had one on the straight lead, so I cast it out and left it there, it really is a waiting game and it gets a bit nerve wracking when the tip doesn't go round! I could see Kieth opposite had had a couple, as well as a few others on the lake, but despite my best efforts I couldn't buy a bite.



Barry, still smiling!

I tried the pole lines after an hour and a half but there was no joy there so I went back onto the lead. I started to feed a few grains of corn onto a line about 20m out, as some of the team in practice had caught a few late on this line. Half way through the match and I still hadn't had a bite. I decided to do what I did on the previous Wednesday, to give the maggot feeder a go, after a couple of casts Keith phoned up to see if I had anything and had to cut him short as the tip flew round! I had finally caught a fish to my relief! A carp about 5lb. A few more casts and then a skimmer of 1lb. Then nothing for a bit so I had a look on the pole.

Yours truly in a brief moment of action!

No bites over the 5m line, or over the pellet, but as soon as I dropped in on the far worm line the float buried and I was attached to another one of Gold Valley's hard fighting carp. A few minutes of careful playing and another 5lb fish was in the net. I had another look but no more bites followed. A few casts onto the 20m line where I had been flicking a few grains of corn resulted in nothing. So as time was getting on and a few fish were being caught further down the lake, so I went back out onto the maggot feeder, no indications until 1 minute from the all out when the rod tip flew of the rest, and the final fish again a fish of around 5lb was in the net landed after the whistle. At the scales I weighed in 17lb, not last in section as there were a few below me. The maggot feeder had caught me a few fish again and I can't help wondering what would of happened if I had started on it. Back at the clubhouse and it was clear that we had come last, Dave George did well to come second on Bungalow lake, but a bit disappointing in the end for the team but we learnt a lot, and Browning Andover Match Group will go from strength to strength and be back next year!

Gold Valley 02/03/11

Gold Valley's Middle Lake.

Back down to Gold Valley for the Wednesday open match, a few days from the winter league semi final. With three lakes in and a section on Gold, Middle and Syndicate. The weather had turned cold with over night frosts, it could have a baring on the semi. After a bacon sarnie and a cup of tea, it was time for the draw. I pulled out peg 65 on middle, a quick look on the results board from the open the previous Sunday and it won it's section with a weight of 65lb, but chatting to some of the regulars they said it either fishes well or it blows out, as the swim is quite shallow, and the cold weather could give it the kiss of death, either that or I could fish it like a plank! Getting to my swim and the first thing that was noticeable apart from the islands in front of me, was the strong north wind that was blowing in, it was freezing! Woolly hat and gloves to the ready! Having a quick chat with Phil on the phone who was on 63 last Sunday, I decided to set up two lead rods, one a straight lead, and one a method, both to be fished to the point of the far island, although I could move to other areas if this didn't work. A few casts and both rods were clipped up nicely. Both were 8lb breaking strain main line, with 0.20 hook length to a strong 14 hook. I also set up a couple of pole lines in open water, but this would be secondary if the island feature didn't fish. One was a KC chimp on 0.12 line to a 18 hook to yellow hollow, the second was again a chimp on 0.14 line to a 16 hook to green hollow.


Peg 65 on Middle Lake.

I had some corn, meat, various hooker pellets and maggots, plus some ground bait micro pellet mix for the method and pole lines. A few minutes before the off a carp rolled along the island, so at the all in I decided on a softly softly approach. I cupped in some micro mix and meat on one pole line, and micro and corn on the other. My opening gambit was to fish the island with a straight lead and hair rigged corn. After half an hour and trying a couple of different places with the lead and corn without so much as a line bite, it was time to chuck the method feeder. I hair rigged a pellet and squashed some micro mix into the method mould and cast to the point of the island, I was going to leave this in till hopefully it would go round. Looking down the lake it was obvious it was fishing hard with just the odd carp coming out, so I was still hopeful that I would get a few. Well that didn't work either, and a hour had gone without so much as a line bite! I had a quick look on the pole lines, but no indications. I tried coming off the islands with the lead into the flat water in between the islands, just in case they were not tight, but that didn't prove productive either!
Three hours had now passed and I was getting cold and bored! After another quick look on the pole lines with no joy, I decided on a different tack. I took off the lead and clipped on a maggot feeder, I was going to cast this more regularly, hoping that something would feed! After a few casts with the maggot feeder to the point of the island the rod flew round and I had a battle with an angry carp that had snaffled my triple maggot hook bait, and it was determined to go round the island! After a bit of bullying I had it in the net, a nice fish of around 5lb. A couple of casts later and the rod flew of the rest again, a fish of a similar size made it's way to the net, again after a bit of a scrap. I was now getting warmer and was feeling better in my self. After a few more casts the tip flew round again, this time I had latched into something much bigger, I got it away from the island ok but it seemed to take me an age to get it to the net, but it was worth it a fish of double figures. I thought I had finally got it cracked but no that was it for the rest of the match, despite regulars casts with the maggot feeder. The scales came round and I weighed 21lb 8oz, not bad for three fish! This put me mid way in section, but only ounces away from second. Hopefully the semi would be warmer and fish a bit better, well a few more regular bites would be nice just to stop me from getting to cold and bored!

Gold Valley 20/02/11

Gold Valley's Gold Lake.

First team practice for the upcoming winter league semi final, and my first trip to Gold Valley. (forgot the camera again sorry!) I didn't know really what to expect. Meeting the rest of the squad for a particularly good breakfast bap in the on site cafe over looking Gold Lake, some of them dressed in there new Browning attire, (very Smart!). There was a good turn out as you would expect with 11 teams, and the buzz and excitement that goes with a big match. The draw took place and Dave Tuck was at the front as usual and the first to draw! I was quite a way down and the draw took a bit of time to do with the large numbers of anglers fishing. I finally stuck my hand in the pot and pulled out peg 42, on the causeway bank of Gold Lake, along with a few others from the team! I made my way to my peg and found out that I was pegged right next to Kieth, after a bit of a chat with him we decided we would fish it slightly different from each other to see what would work best.

A couple of the lads had been down to the mid week match earlier in the week, so we had an idea, but it was still a bit of trial an error. I set up a method rod on 8lb main line to 0.20 hook length and 14 hook. This was for fishing towards the rope that splits Gold lake in 2, meanwhile Kieth went for a bomb and maggot feeder approach. On the pole lines again we tried slightly different tacks, to see which would work best, I plumbed up at 14.5m and had about 7ft. I set up 2 rigs for this line a heavy rig in case the carp showed up and this was a Karpa Carp 1, 4x16 to 0.16 straight through to a 911-16 to a green hollow. I also set up a lighter rig which was a Karpa Chimp 4x16 on 0.12 straight through to a 18 hook on yellow hollow. I plumbed at 16m also and found it slightly shallower, a go to area in case the fish backed off. The last line was a line at 5-6m which again was good depth at 6ft. A Karpa Chimp 4x14 on 0.12 - 0.10 to an 18 hook married to pink hollow.

Kieth an I decided on a slightly different approach, I was going to put in micros with minced luncheon meat on the 14.5m line, while he put micros on one line and some chopped worm on another, as he had a blank peg to his right. At the all in I fed three good size balls of the micro meat mix, and went out onto the method. It was quite a cold day and it was obvious from the early proceedings that it was going to be a tricky day. Not much early indications on the method just a few small movements of the tip, not the full blown wrap around was hoping for from the size able carp that live in Gold Valley. The odd carp was coming out further down the lake. Kieth was not doing much better on the bomb. About an hour had past before the tip flew round and a 1lb skimmer was in the net. Kieth had now switched to the maggot feeder and was getting the odd roach. No further fish followed in the next half an hour so I went onto the pole. After having a quick look on the 5-6m line which I had been trickling maggot over with no indications.

Out to the 14.5m line with a couple of maggots on the hook, after a couple of minutes the float slipped away and a skimmer of a 1lb came to the net. Next put in this time with a bit of meat on the hook and the float slipped away again this time it was a better fish of 2.5lb. Out again with the meat but nothing for a bit so I went back onto the maggot, the next fish was a lumpy beam of 5lb. Kieth was struggling for bites next door, as was the guy to my left. The swim seemed to die for a while so I fed a small cup of micro meat mix and went back on to the method. Not much doing out there so leaving the 14.5m line to settle for twenty minutes I went back onto it. Some nice size roach and a couple of nice big perch followed in the next small spell of catching. Again it died, I just couldn't seem to keep them going. A small re-feed and out onto the method.

It was well into the match now, no carp but I seemed to be doing OK on the silver's side of things. Again not much doing out on the rod, so back onto the pole. Again a small run of fish, skimmers and roach, before the bites stopped. Into the last hour and I decided to feed once last time, going on the method for half an hour before coming back onto the pole. A couple of fish this time on the rod was a bonus, nothing big but it was adding to the weight. Switching back to the pole for the last half hour and it was slow, so I pushed it out to 16m, I did have a nice skimmer but that was it for me at the all out. At the scales I weighed in 25lb 4oz, for 4th in section not to bad, but a carp or 2 would of helped out. Kieth struggled all day next to me, as did the guy to my left. It was generally a tricky day for most, just the odd angler doing well or catching a couple of bonus carp, I seemed to do quite well on the silver fish, just need to try a couple of things out in the next match that I observed during quiet spells, it might just catch some of those elusive carp!

Silver, But No Golden Delicious At Orchard!

A very wet and windy day was in store at Orchard's Match lake on 13/02/11. I arrived at the venue early and seeing the wind blowing down the the lake, the favoured pegs were definitely going to be those at the entrance end, Orchard is windy at the best of times and these pegs seem to offer some sort of calm water. I made my way into the dry of the hut where a warming cup of tea was the order of the day before venturing out into the abyss! The golden peg was up for grabs and with it being won from this venue last year from one of the favoured end pegs. After everyone had arrived suitably dressed in various waterproofs, the draw was done for the golden peg. Peg 33 was drawn out of the hat, one of the favoured end pegs! A good chance with the conditions that it could go! I stuck my hand into the hat to draw for the peg for today, and pulled out peg 33! I made my way to my peg, along with the other hardy ( fools! ) souls and couldn't help thinking about the comfort of my nice warm bed, and now it was my intention to sit out in the wind and rain for 5 hours! I got to my peg and my thoughts turned to my peg, the golden peg! My first impressions was it looked nice despite the rain hitting off my face! I decided to put all my eggs into one basket and to fish down to my left next to the reeds, and to not bother fishing across to the island, my back was aching and I didn't fancy battling with the pole in the wind! Plumbing up I found that I had good depth next to the reeds at 9m, about 3 foot, not tight as there was some rubbish and roots there, about 18" from the reeds. I set two rigs up, nice and simple, one on yellow hollow which was 0.12 - 0.10 18 hook. And a green hollow which was 0.14 - 0.12 16 hook. Two rigs to cover the same line. Bait was nice and simple too, corn, some meat, and micros and 4mm pellets mixed. I was going to fish corn on the hook and feed a little corn and pellet mix through a toss pot.
The all in sounded, and I slipped a grain of corn on to the hook and a few into the toss pot before lowering the rig in, after a few seconds the float shot under and I lifted into a small carp of 1/2 lb. The bites and fish were coming thick and fast, most of the fish were on the small side, with the odd bigger specimen thrown in for good measure. I could see Dave catching on the other end peg flier and judging buy the elastic he had out he was catching fish of a bigger stamp than I was, the thing was I seemed to be catching a lot faster than him, I was just hoping it would be quick enough. About 3 hours had past and Mike came walking past on the way to a comfort brake, ( I think he wanted out of the rain for 5 minutes! ) He asked how I was getting on, and I said I had 60 fish, mostly still small. The wind and rain had not eased at all, in fact it seemed to be getting worse, the thing was my hands were getting that cold I was struggling to hook the bait and to unhook the fish. Going into the last quarter of the match and the bites were slowing down, so I put another section on, this seemed to do the trick as the fish had just backed of a bit. I was still getting plenty of bites, mostly small still. The all out came and I had 102 fish on the clicker, so putting all the effort into 1 swim had paid off, but would it be enough to beat Dave? At the scales I weighed in 121lb 8oz, a cracking weight and I was hoping it would be enough for the golden peg. Dave was next and he put 127lb odd on the scales! beating me into second, and the golden peg survives for another day! I don't think I did anything wrong as I caught plenty of fish, Just that Dave caught a better size stamp of fish than I did! On the whole we all had a good day's fishing despite the foul weather! De-robing and the rain had found it's way in slightly, and I was a bit damp in the nether regions! Along with most others! It will take a week to dry everything out! I must order some sun for next time!

Foxcotte Lake 23/01/ 2011

Foxcotte Lake from the top bank.


My first trip to Foxcotte for a while and I was looking forward to some roach fishing. The weather had been changeable the week before and with a few hard frosts the fishing could be tricky. I pulled 17 out of the hat and made my way there. With Nick for company on 16 hopefully there would be some fish in the area as Nick always draws on fish!





Peg 17 on the left with 16 in close proximity.



The water had a slight tinge to it, and whilst plumbing up I found a lot of weed in the peg and it was very difficult to find a clear area to fish. Nick on the other hand caught a fish on a bare hook, I knew he would have a load of fish in his peg! With so much weed in the area I decided to fore go any rods, and set up a couple of rigs on the pole. I found a small hole to fish in at 12m straight in front of me, and one at an angle to my left. I set up a 0.3 gram DS9 0.10 to 0.08 611-20 to a pink hollow, and a 0.4 gram DS9 0.12 to 0.10 611-18 to a yellow hollow. I also plumbed up next to the tree on my left at 6m. I decided to fish over groundbait in front of me and to put some chopped worm and caster in on the left angled swim. A 50/50 mix of black lake and match blend well riddled was the mix. I had worm, caster and maggot as bait. At the all in i cupped in three balls of groundbait with some caster in straight in front of me and half a pot of chopped worm each on the other 2 swims.
The first ten minutes were a bit of a disaster, with me faffing about, the float wasn't quite sitting correctly and I was putting on and taking shot off! I managed to settle down and hooked a couple of small roach. Nick was getting a few, with some netter roach in there for good measure. The bites were slow in coming and the weed was a problem, I did manage to catch another couple of fish when I decided to fetch a finer elastic out of the bag as the pink hollow was to heavy for the small roach that I was getting. I took off the rig from the pink hollow and put it onto a top set with 3 elastic. After I did that I couldn't get a bite! Swapping to the other lines didn't improve matters, with nothing forthcoming. I dropped a down to a finer hook and hook length but it didn't make a difference. A good hour and a half had passed before I caught another small roach. Nick was still getting a few but the whole lake seemed to be fishing hard with some anglers walking. I could see James catching steady on the sluice, and Buzz next to him catching the odd fish. I was struggling now with the weed, so when Nick went for a walk I fetched an on the drop rig out of the box and attached it to the 3 elastic, with the plan to fish above the weed.
I started pinging caster and maggot and kept lifting and dropping the rig in, this worked to a degree and I started to string a few fish together, only tiny but at least it was something. I would get a couple then it die for some time, it was difficult to keep them coming. I did this for the remainder of the match as it was the only way I could get a bite!

Hard work for not a lot.

The scales came round and I weighed a massive 1lb 2oz, 21 small fish, good enough though to take the section by double default! Nick had 2lb 8oz for third, and James and Buzz either side of the sluice were 1st and 2nd respectively, all in all a very hard day for all.

Greenridge Farm. 16/01/2011

Having not been out for a couple of weeks due to work/snow ice/ Christmas etc. I was looking forward to the match which was on lakes 3 & 4. I had heard that a few fish had been coming out in the regular Saturday matches, but it was patchy. Whilst taking my gear down to the lakes prior to the draw I managed to tread in some dog dirt, hmmm nice! Time would only tell if this was a good sign, or I was going to have "one of those days! ". At the draw I pulled out peg 36 on the middle of lake 4, not quite what I was hoping for as it is quite narrow and shallow. The end pegs had been quite kind to me on lake 4 in the past, and was hoping for a nice end peg! I did have the next best thing as peg 35 to my left hadn't been put in, so I had a nice margin to fish, if they were to come in.

I was going to fish three lines, tight across at 11.5m, down the middle at 6m, and to my left just before peg 35's platform. Whilst plumbing up I had forgotten how shallow it was and couldn't find much more than 2ft anywhere in the peg, actually it was pretty even, which made it easy as far as rigs would go. I set up 3 rigs, an image dibber on 0.10 to a barbless 611-20, to a pink hollow. A slightly heavier image dibber on 0.12 to a pr32-18, to a yellow hollow, and a heavy rig which was a Carpa cube on 0.14 to a 911-16, to a green hollow, for the margins. As the depths were similar I could use any of the rigs on any swim. I had corn, maggots, micro pellet and some 4mm expander's, At the all in I cupped a few grains of corn to my left into the margins, and half a small pole pot of micros and corn at 6m. I was going to feed the far swim with a toss pot. My intentions were to have a look on the corn first off, before switching to the maggot if the corn didn't work.

I slipped a grain of corn on the 0.12 rig and a few in the toss pot and had a look at the far bank swim, after 5 minutes the float dipped and the first small carp of a 1lb was heading it's way to the net, a good start, perhaps the dog pooh was a good omen! Ten minutes later and number 2 of a similar size to the first was in the net. Then almost instantly number 3 this time slightly bigger. Then nothing! For a good 20 minutes or so. Stu to my left on peg 34 had had a couple and Simon to my right on peg 37 had had one. I had a look on the 6m swim but there was no bites there to be had, so I went back to the far swim, this time on maggot. There was not sign on the far line except by small fish towing the bait about. By now Stu was fishing in the margins and almost instantly he had a lump on, I kept an eye on him whilst trying to get the far line to come back to life. Stu then had another couple of lumps out of the margins, so i fed the far line with some corn and micros and decided to have a go in the margins myself.

A few minutes had passed before the float wobbled before burying, and a nice fish of 2lb had graced my landing net, not the size of fish Stu was catching, but welcome none the less. I had a few more reasonably sized fish, before I hooked one of Stu's lumps, which I promptly lost underneath the platform! This sort of killed my margins for a bit, I so re-fed and went back over to the far line. Stu was still getting the odd lump in the margins, and by now was well in front on the lake, and as far as I could tell I was second. Back out onto the far swim with corn and a small dip in the float resulted in a 1lb carp. Another couple followed before it died again. Back onto the margin line, again a small carp of a 1lb or so, followed by another couple, again nothing like the size Stu was catching! After having a look on the 6m swim, again with no bites, I went back onto the far line. After a bit the float dipped and I hooked into a fish of a decent size, I played it carefully across the lake before messing about to much and it dived under my net and I lost it ! Total Clampetry! The two best fish hooked and both of them lost!

The last 45 minutes of the match and swapping from the margins to the far line kept some fish coming, nothing big and not frequently enough to catch up Stu. At the all out I had 18 carp, not to bad, I think I had more fish than anyone on the lake but they were all of the small size! The scales came round and I weighed 29lb 14oz good enough for second on the lake and another nice pick up, Stu Weighed 52lb lump fishing, I think I cleared the small fish out of the way for him! Now where's that DVD on catching big fish....!