October 2014

Fished four matches this month.

Shearsby Willow peg 10

Not much to say about this one. Bucko's cheque handover match. Out of seventeen fishing six blanked or DNW. I was one of the blanks. And people say commercials are easy.

Shearsby Alder peg 41

Following week was back at Shearsby on a club match. Set up to fish the pole at topkit + 3/4 and the margins. Struggled until halfway through the match. Two things happened. First, after a cold start to that day the fish seemed to wake up and there was noticeably more activity. This coincided with me increasing the amount I was feeding. I had started negatively due to the overnight temperature. Feeding micros in a small tosspot. I decided to put on the largest pot and within a couple of minutes was playing a carp for the first time in the day. The day still wasn't hectic but the occasional fish put my final weight at 28lb for third. Winner had 56, second 41.

Decoy Elm peg 4

Set up four swims. Topkit + three in front, + 2 to the right and bottom of the margin slope, +1 to the left bottom of the slope and left margin. I ignored the right margin as too deep and difficult to fish further than topkit distance. I also set up a pellet feeder to cast 45 degrees to my right in front of the empty platform there. That choice was purely because it was simple to position the rod for that angle.

Started by feeding micros and 4 mils on the +3 line. There was an undertow and I feed the mixture so I get a spread of bait down tow, the micros, I assume being carried further. In conditions like this I expect to catch up to 10-12 feet from where I feed. Took a few small skimmers and a couple of carp from that line before rotating round the other lines. I also occasionally threw out the feeder. I took the odd fish off each line until with 90 minutes to go I had 40-50lb in the net. I knew from comments down the bank that this was probably above average but not winning form. Jim opposite me had started to catch decent fish down the margin and that got me thinking. I had taken only one fish from my left hand shallow margin. I decided to take a look at the right hand deeper margin.

With a fresh rig on a topkit I plumbed up and fed the line while I had the feeder out (this club allows use of second rod/pole for feeding, plumbing up while ledgering). Waited ten minutes and tried the line. An almost immediate dip of the float was followed within two minutes by a positive bite and a fish of around six pound. A few more decent fish saw me with an estimated 70lb with just under an hour to go. I now had the net dilemma that strikes at Decoy.

Its fishery nets only with a 50lb limit, start the match with two nets. We follow the open rules, 50-60 records 50, over 60 net is disqualified. I opted to take the roughly ten minutes it would take to fetch a third net from the lodge. The last 45 minutes were hectic as I was catching decent fish regularly including one of nine pound. Despite my only putting an estimated 40lb in each net I ended with 52 in one, 47 in the second and 20 in the third, 117 in total with the 52 only counting as 50.  I will have to rethink my fish weight estimating.  I think its a confidence issue not wanting to claim too high a weight by overestimating.

Jim opposite me had a total of 118 but he only had two nets, one at 64 and thus not counting, the other 54 counting 50. So I managed a win by default.  In case you are wondering, I had offered to get a third net for Jim which he declined.  He would have had to stop fishing while I was away from my peg so I may have beaten him anyway because apart from losing fishing time by then at least one of his nets was over 50.

 

Rectory Farm Addington

Not permanently pegged and with natural banks. I drew peg 1 which had been placed as the furthest peg up the lake towards the point where the spring that feeds it enters. I have drawn this three times in six matches here. The peg is only three feet deep and has a weed bed immediately to the right and a clump of sparse reeds to the left really restricting what you can do. I had learned from experience that there is no point in fishing close to the reeds, the fish just charge through them when hooked. I had caught well in the Summer fishing shallow at 9 metres but apart from that had struggled here previously. Simple choice really was to put all my eggs in one basket and fish a line at topkit + 3 and a pellet feeder at around 15m just before the far bank weedbed started. I did set up a shallow rig just in case.

The night had been cold and I really didn't fancy the peg due to the shallow nature of it. Despite the fact it was somewhat sheltered by a nearby tree line I would have been happier in the main body of the lake despite there being a strong wind blowing down it. I had previously won a match in similar conditions and working the tow as described earlier.

Anyway, fed the pole line and started on the feeder. One fish of 1 1/2lb was soon in the net but two more casts produced nothing. Onto the pole line and that was basically it for the day. I caught steadily all day feeding a small tosspot of micros after every fish and fishing 4/6 mil expander on the hook. The fish were small, probably averaging a pound but coming regularly.

There were some quiet spells and I played around with different sized pots, increasing and decreasing the feed as the day went on. Nothing made much difference. The fish wanted to be there, all I had to do was catch them.

I weighed 55lb, a surprise as I estimated 40, the fish were bigger than I thought. I will have to work on my estimating skills.  Second was 25. Picked up two club trophies, the pairs event (on total weight) and a plate fought out between the top six on points come this the last match of the year. My random pairs partner was one of the lad's wives who has fished three matches now and not done worse than fourth. Because of that I had said I wanted her as my partner before the names were drawn out.

Its a shame this club is folding this year. Its a friendly, not too serious set up as the payout is on sections rather than overall position. So despite being top on the day I only picked up my four man section money. But it isn't about the money on these matches. For me its the friendship, banter and getting out onto different venues than my other club fishes. A day's fishing is a day's fishing.

Next month

 

I'm fishing Rookery Waters Magpie lake at Pidley a couple of times. A new venue for my club. Also on Waterloo Farm near Market Harborough and a match on a lake a Decoy though I don't know which yet. Makes no real odds as I tend to fish them all the same way.

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