Got Baits ISK League Round 5

With this being the second to last match of the league I know I had to still get a good result in order to maintain my mid table standing and avoid the drop zone like Newcastle this season.

At the draw I pulled out B13 which resolved to Bramley peg 13, I do enjoy the long walks to these pegs.

When I arrived at the peg I had a clear path to the island and 2 margin swims, however the biggest obsticalewas the wind blowing across the peg from right to left at around 15mph and gusting upto 25mph. With the wind this made it more difficult to get the method feeder over to the island and impossible to get the pellet waggler in the right position.

I choose 2 margim swims one to the left around 7 meters and the other to the right. At the whistle I fed both margin swims and cast the method feeder out to the island. Within a few seconds I was noticing a few liners then the tip swung round and I soon had the first carp in the net of the day. Back out to the island and the tip swung round again this resulted in a missed fish, the wind seemed to pick up and this didn't help as I seemed to be loosing around 50% of the fish on the way in. I should have used the longer 12' feeder rod which may have given myself a bit more of the edge.

I changed to the margin line however with the wind being so bad and having changed direction also this made my margin swims very difficult to fish, I managed to get 3 small carp out of these before I had to try the method feeder again.

At the end of the day I managed just over 31 lb at the scales and managed 3rd in the section which was a fair result for the day. This has left me 13th overall, not bad seen as I had settled for 20th this year.

League Placing

1 Ian Carley, 5-4-4-5-4, 385-14 22
2 Nick Gilbert, 5-3-5-3-5, 362-9 21
3 Paul Kell, 0-5-5-5-5, 379-1 20
4 Russ Evans, 4-3-4-3-5, 303-13 19
5 Collin Wood, 3-5-5-5-0, 307-10 18
6 Russell Graves, 0-5-4-5-4 286-7 18
7 Dennis Price, 4-4-5-3-2, 269-8 18
8 Jeff Driscoll, 4-3-3-4-4, 249-2 18
9 Jonny Watt, 5-3-3-0-5, 250-11 16
10 Matt Love, 5-4-4-0-3, 219-0 16
11 Mark Hathway 4-4-4-0-3, 211-1 15
12 Nick Allen, 3-5-3-2-1, 218-15
13 John Haige 2-2-2-3-4, 204-6 13
14 Paul Slater 3-0-2-4-3, 184-11 12
15 Trevor Little 2-1-3-4-0, 217-9 10
16 Pete Allen 2-2-1-3-2, 217-6 10
17 Chris Jones 3-1-2-2-2, 124-10 10
18 Al Loader 0-2-3-0-3, 127-4 8
19 Brian Pink 2-2-1-2-0, 52-3 7

Got Baits ISK League Round 4

With the match on Nick's Lake at Hartleylands, again a venue I'd never fished , I decided to do a bit of reading of other people's blogs. After a bit of investigation it looks to be a carp mainly lake.

Having met up with Trevor (M.T.Net) in Hastings for breakfast we then set off to the lake, at the draw I managed to pull out peg 33, which was a nicely sheltered part of the lake which was good as the wind was blowing at around 20mph.

At the swim I decided on 2 swims one the left hand margin and the the other was the island straight out in front. I set up 2 feeder rods and a short pole for the marging swim. The first feeder rod was setup with a flat method feeder and a 4" hook length with a korum quick stop attached, the other feeder rod and 1/2oz boom and a 8" hook length and a korum quick stop.

The margin swim was only around 2 - 3 feet deep and this was a 4x12 float.

As 10.30am arrived the whisle went I started to feed the margin swim and then cast the method feeder out to the island. Within a few seconds the tip went round and I soon had the first carp of the day in the net. I rebaited and cast back to the island and a few minutes later another carp around 3lb. I continued to catch over the next few hours however I noticed my catch rate was not as quick as Colin Wood's who was on peg 32. I had a few more carp, then next cast the tip bounced round and I hit into it this felt like a better fish, I managed to get this towards the net, and finally saw it, it looked like a fish of around 10-12lb then disaster the hook length snapped. I quickly added another hook length and was back over to the island.

Then things started to go wrong the old Map reel seemed to be having problems twisting the line and tangling up, I change to the other rod the 10' Map STi Bomb rod and was soon back out to the island and catching fish. I started to loose a few fish, and managed to snap another couple of hook lengths.

With an hour to go in the match the tip titched round and I hit it this was a bigger fish after a few minutes fight it was in the net and was around 8lb. I lost around 40'b of fish during the day which would have bumped up my placing however that's fishing.

At the weigh in I managed to put together 80lb 5oz and finished second in the section and was fourth overall on the day, picking up a £20 note for my troubles, but also more important £1 from Trevor on a side bet.

1st Ian Carley 117-1
2nd Paul Kell 110-12
3rd Collin Wood 107-11
4th Paul Slater 80-5
5th Alan Joplin(guest) 67-0
6th Jeff Driscoll 59-8

League Placing
1 Ian Carley, 5-4-4-5, 322-0 18
2 Collin Wood, 3-5-5-5, 307-10 18
3 Nick Gilbert, 5-3-5-3, 288-9 16
4 Dennis Price, 4-4-5-3, 243-6 16
5 Paul Kell, 0-5-5-5, 298-10 15
6 Russ Evans, 4-3-4-3, 254-8 14
7 Russell Graves, 0-5-4-5, 205-12 14
8 Jeff Driscoll, 4-3-3-4, 190-14 14
9 Nick Allen, 3-5-3-2, 205-7 13
10 Matt Love, 5-4-4, 156-5 13
11 Mark Hathway 4-4-4-0, 144-11 12
12 Jonny Watt, 5-3-3-0, 166-13 11
13 Trevor Little 2-1-3-4, 217-9 10
14 John Haige 2-2-2-3, 158-15 9
15 Paul Slater 3-0-2-4, 152-5 9
16 Pete Allen 2-2-1-3, 185-10 8
17 Chris Jones 3-1-2-2, 92-6 8
18 Brian Pink 2-2-1-2, 52-3
19 Al Loader 0-2-3-0 103-4 5

Fish O Mainia - Monks Lake

I was lucky enoughg to get a ticket for the Fish O Mainia quailifer at Monk Lakes in Kent. I seen from the list theere was so good anglers down.

I somehow knew that I would end up near Darren Cox, after being in the car park 10 minutes I noticed he'd parked behind me , that's a bit spooky to say the least. Well at draw time my hand went into the box and I pulled out peg 68 on match lake 2, this is not the best half of the lake. I humped all the gear round and over the bridge to the peg.

As I started to setup I looked up only to see Darren Cox setting up on peg 69. Jay came round and we had a chat about how he'd attack the peg , with his ideas in mind I setup a few rigs 2 margin swims and a 6-7m swim straight out in front. I'd really wanted to setup a feeder rig just in case.

At all in I fed all three swims and started to fish the 7m line I had immediate results and by the first hour managed to get a few carp in the net, however I managed to loose as many as I have landed. Over the next couple of hours the swims just seemed to die on me.

This resulted in me moving out on the pole to 9-10 meters, I managed a few more small carp, then time came to go out to 14.5 meters this resulted in a few more bites and only another 2 carp in the net.

I'd not come anywhere close to winning the section however I'd totally enjoyed the day, I'll be applying again next year.

Got Baits ISK League Round 3

Back to Monk's lake for another day, the weather never seems to be great down there, however with a cross wind blowing, at the draw I got peg 62 on the island in the middle. I'd never fished this lake however I decided on the 2 margin swims and setup the feeder rod incase things didn't work out.

At the all in I fed both margin swims and started to fish the left hand swim, the float bobbed under and a small bram was soon in the net. Next cast under again this was certainly bigger this thing was like a torpedothe elastic came out the pole to around 25 feet, I finally managed to net the fish it's was a barbel of around 2lb, this was a first for me as I'd never caught one before. I managed to catch a few more fish down that margin, I decided to give it a rest and and try the other side, this resulted in a few small carp of around a pound mark, then a run of small skimmer bream to 4oz.

I swaped back onto the other margin and continued to caught barbel and the odd small carp, I noticed that Jeff D was catching some better carp on the feeder, with only an hour to got I swapped on this , I managed a run of around 10 carp in the hour however I should have changed to this alot sooner and would have had a bigger weight.

I also managed to catch a golden tench which was another first for me.


60 B Pink 20-0
62 P Slater 32-9
63 J Driscoll 48-8
65 M Hathway 74-12
66 C Wood 89-6 68


League Placing
1 Nick Gilbert, 5-3-5, 241-1 13
2 Dennis Price, 4-4-5, 216-10 13
3 Ian Carley, 5-4-4, 204-15 13
4 Collin Wood, 3-5-5, 199-15 13
5 Mark Hathway 4-4-4, 144-11 12
6 Russ Evans, 4-3-4, 227-8 11
7 Nick Allen, 3-5-3, 169-4 11
8 Jonny Watt, 5-3-3 166-13 11
9 Paul Kell, 0-5-5, 187-14 10
10 Jeff Driscoll, 4-3-3 131-6 10
11 Russell Graves, 0-5-4, 153-10 9
12 Matt Love, 5-4-0, 107-1 9
13 Trevor Little 2-1-3, 171-1 6
14 John Haige 2-2-2, 106-15 6
15 Chris Jones 3-1-2, 70-14 6
16 Pete Allen 2-2-1, 133-10 5
17 Al Loader 0-2-3 103-4 5
18 Paul Slater 3-0-2 72-0 5
19 Brian Pink 2-2-1 39-15 5

Town Parks Lakes - Catfish - 24th April 09

Had a day on Town Park with Peter, Shelia, Sarah and myself. Got there around 9.30am aranged for some coffee and breakfast rolls, we decided to fish on pegs 1 and 2.

This was the specimin lake which holds carp to over 40lb and cat fish to over 60lb, and a large head of good quality roach and rudd to nearly 2lb.

I setup a short pole for Sarah to fish the margins and the feeder rod for myself along with the pellet waggler.

I cast the feeder over to the island withand 11mm hard pellet and packed with 2mm feed pellets. The food arrived and I had a quick go on the pole and managed to get a couple of good quality roach with a few minutes the largest being 12oz.
We all sat down had the bacon roll and the coffee, it was back to the peg to enjoy some real lesure fishing, Sarah started well catching some small roach and rudd, the more she fed then the larger fish started to show, and she had her first roach over a pound.

At around 11.00am Pete shouted that he'd hooked something nice and he thought it was a carp, after a 15 minute battle we still hadn't seen it then finally to Pete's amazement it wasn't a carp it was a catfish, this was a first for him. I finally managed to net the catfish, Paul from Town Parks Lakes arranged the Carp mat and some scales after a few minutes we had it in the sling and it weighed in at 20lb 8oz. We all started fishing again and Sarah was soon catching the odd fine rudd and roach, over the day she must have had 20 of them over a pound, however the best weighed in at 1lb 5oz.

Pete later on in the afternoon managed to fit into a nice mirror carp, after a 5 minute scrap they manage to part company after the carp roled when it was on the surface this was estimated at over 20lb.

We all had a great a day fishing for things I never normally do.

Another thanks to the guys at Town Parks Fishing http://www.townparks.net for a great day once again.

Got Baits ISK League Round 2

Due to being on holiday in devon I've missed this round, so for the next 4 rounds it's 100% flat out.

With the next round being at Monk Lakes in Kent and never fished Match Lake 2 before it'll be another hard match but a good learning curve.

I'm currently 18th overall dropping 7 places for not fishing

1 Collin Wood 60-12 Peg 23
2 Nick Allen 59-7 Peg 36
3 Dennis Price 57-14 Peg 22
4 Rusty 57-00 peg 16
5 Russ Evans 53-10 peg 24
6 Squeaky (guest) 51-0 peg 31

League Placing

1 Ian Carley, 5-4, 124-8 9
2 Matt Love, 5-4, 107-1 9
3 Nick Gilbert, 5-3, 133-13 8
4 Collin Wood, 3-5, 110-9 8
5 Dennis Price, 4-4, 105-1 8
6 Nick Allen, 3-5, 103-1 8
7 Jonny Watt, 5-3, 95-5 8
8 Mark Hathway 4-4, 69-15 8
9 Russ Evans, 4-3, 104-3 7
10 Jeff Driscoll, 4-3, 82-14 7
11 Russell Graves, 0-5, 57-0 5
12 Paul Kell, 0-5, 44-4 5
13 Pete Allen 2-2 63-11 4
14 John Haige 2-2 33-1 4
15 Chris Jones 3-1 27-6 4
16 Brian Pink 2-2 19-15 4
17 Trevor Little 2-1 81-6 3
18 Paul Slater 3-0 39-7 3
19 Al Loader 0- 11-10 2


Weight League

1 Nick Gilbert 133-13
2 Ian Carley 124-8
3 Collin Wood 110-9
4 Matt Love 107-1
5 Dennis Price 105-1
6 Russ Evans 104-3
7 Nick Allen 103-1
8 Jonny Watt 95-5
9 Jeff Driscoll 82-14
10 Trevor Little 81-6
11 Mark Hathway 69-15
12 Pete Allen 63-11
13 Russell Graves 57-0
14 Paul Kell 44-4
15 Paul Slater 39-7
16 John Haige 33-1
17 Chris Jones 27-6
18 Brian Pink 19-15
19 Al Loader 11-10

Town Park Lakes Torquay - 23rd April

Were on our yearly trip to Devon, staying over in Brixham this year, as always I manage to get a few days fishing in while were here. I went on monday and had a nice 40lb bag of skimmer bream and roach, with a couple of common carp to 3lb each.

However today was different Sarah the other half had decided to give fishing a go.......shock horror!

We arrived at Town Park Lakes at around 9.00am some 2.5hours since me and the dog was ready to go. Anyway We decided to fish peg 10 which is at the far side of the lake away from anyone as we had the mutt with us. I still had some bait from the other day. I set-up a feeder rod with a pellet feeder rig and a pellet waggler rod for sarah. while I was setting up she went off to get breakfast for us and she soon returned with a bacon butty and a can of pepsi for myself and she had the sausage butty. However I'd had a quick couple of casts and managed to get a nice 3lb common carp and a small skimmer in the net.

On the third cast with the feeder rod the tip whizzed round again and another 3lb common was soon in the net. I continued casting the feeder to the island and over the course of the day I managed another 4 smaller carp and 21 skimmer bream upto 1lb being the largest of them.

I'd set Sarah up the pellet waggler, however due to her first time fishing this was a bit much with the wind being in our faces, I decided to geta top kit out so she could have a go for the roach and rudd in the lake.

After showing her a couple of times she was soon into the roach and rudd with no problem swinging them over for me to unhook and add the maggots back on the hook, this soon changed as I started to make myself busy when she needed somethings doing, which started to to do things for herself this included unhooking the fish first then soon I had her putting magggots on the hook and throwing in a few maggots. Before long she was catching roach or a rudd a cast and starting to enjoy herself (That's a first never thought I see her fish..!)as the dog was starting to get restless and I was running out of spam to throw to her to keep her quite it was time to go I started to pack up only to hear Sarah say do we have to go yet.

At the end of the day the tally was:

Myself:

6 carp to 3lb
21 skimmer Bream

Sarah:

50 plus roach and rudd
Best fish 10-12oz

Tomorrow were going to try the specimun lake which holds large carp and catfish.

Got Baits ISK League Round 1

This is my first year back match fishing after nearly 20 years, things have changed somewhat, well over the past few months I've been on a rapid learning curve.

However the day was here for the first match at Bramley / Peartree Lakes at Hartleylands in Kent. At the draw I picked Peg P20 which was peg 20 on Peartree Lake. I've never fished any of these lakes so it was do my best regardless.

When I walked round to the peg I had an island straight out in front of me and some margins to both sides. The plan of attack was feed 2 margins swims one to the left and the other to the right. A third line would be over to the island with either a pellet feeder or pellet waggler.

Upon opening the rod bag I noticed that I had left my feeder rod at home, a quick phone call and my trusted 10' MAP Parabolix Feeder rod was on it's way by Robbie Express.

I opted for the feeder rod over the pellet waggler as I have more confidence on this method, as I've only ever used the pellet waggler once before.

I mixed up around 3 pints of 2mm pellets for the feeder and had a few pre drilled hard pellets, with my main line of attack being a method feeder to the island a cast of around 25 meters.

The whistle went for all in I cast out to the island within seconds the tip was showing signs of life then it went round and soon the first carp was coming to the net, in the next hour I managed to catch another 15 carp, with the bites not showing any signs of giving up.

In the meantime I continued to feed the margins with the plan in the last hour to fish there. However I was catching small carp every few minutes and was starting to build a decent weight.

I hooked a few bigger fish which I failed in getting to the net, and managed to snag up on the bottom and loose a couple of hook lengths on.

I started on the margin swim with an hour to go, after 15 minutes I'd not even had a take, I decided to use the feeder rig and go back over to the island and was soon rewarded with another carp.

I'm quite pleased with the result and currently finished 11th overall at a water I've never fished before, I know these placing will fall as I'm missing the next round due to going on holiday.

Results:

1 Nick Gilbert 103-13 peg 4 pear tree
2 Matt Love 5 79-9 peg 8 pear tree
3 Ian Carley 5 78-14 peg 9 bramley
4 Jonny Watt 5 73-14 peg 20 bramley
5 Jeff Driscoll 4 63-6 peg 6 pear tree
6 Russ Evans 4 50-9 peg 8 bramley

League Placing

1 Nick Gilbert 5 103-13
2 Matt Love 5 79-9
3 Ian Carley 5 78-14
4 Jonny Watt 5 73-14
5 Jeff Driscoll 4 63-6
6 Russ Evans 4 50-9
7 Dennis Price 4 47-3
8 Mark Hathway 4 44-8
9 Collin Wood 3 49-13
10 Nick Allen 3 43-10
11 Paul Slater 3 39-7
12 Chris Jones 3 16-14
13 Trevor Little 2 48-8
14 Pete Allen 2 23-3
15 John Haige 2 19-5
16 Brian Pink 2 9-11
17 Rusty (on Holiday) 0
18 Alan Loader (forgot about the match!) 0

Hawkhurst Fish Farm Good Friday 09

I'd arranged another match this time at Hawkhurst Fish Farm, near Hawkhurst in Kent. As the fish farm has a half decent cafe on everyone fishing the match had said we were going to have breakfast before the start of the match, which was a full english all round.

I got the draw sorted and Ted the bailiff picked my peg which was peg 13 on a friday.

I walked down to my peg started to setup the pole which was 2 margin rigs and a 5 meter line straight out in front.

The main line I setup two rigs one shallow and one hard on the bottom. After setting up we
went over to the cafe to have full english breckfast before the match, this was follwoed by
the usual banter.

At 10.00 I shouted all in and then for the next 5 hours I didn't move off the peg. I went long
for the first hour feeding a few pellets every 30 seconds, soon I was getting bites on the
bottom, with the first carp soon in the net. I started to catch through out the day rotating
round to the margins and then back out long however my catch rate was no where near what
I needed to do.

At the end of the match I finished a lonely 15th.

 
Position        Peg             Angler                               Weight

1st               Peg 7     Paul(nomorelongwalks)East   125lbs 00ozs
2nd              Peg 15   Keith(Disco)Driscoll              112lbs 00ozs
3rd              Peg 16   Nick(pastie)Allen                   101lbs 00ozs
4th              Peg 4     Graham(franklin)Fanklin          94lbs 12ozs
5th              Peg 3    Jay Lay                                   92lbs 12ozs
6th              Peg 5    Tony(spamwham)Roberts         88lbs 00ozs
7th              Peg 19  Derek(derekl)Lockwood            86lbs 12ozs
8th              Peg 1    Peter(Mugger)Morton               86lbs 08ozs
9th              Peg 8    Clive(Black Hydro)Pritchard      85lbs 04ozs
10th            Peg 18   Pete(btpt)Allen                         83lbs 00ozs
11th=          Peg 9    Greg(splitshot1)Andrews            81lbs 00ozs
11th=          Peg 6    Dave(The Fish)Collier               81lbs 00ozs
13th            Peg 12  Trevor(M.T.Net)Little               70lbs 00ozs
14th            Peg 20   Terry(Wily Coyote)Goff           67lbs 00ozs
15th     Peg 13 paulvis69              40lbs 00ozs
16th            Peg 2    Vince(Vince G)Gould                32lbs 08ozs
17th            Peg 11   Chris(nagap)Pagan                   31lbs 00ozs
18th            Peg 17   Chris Withall                            23lbs 08ozs
19th            Peg 14   Ben Franklin                                DNW  

Lucks Lane Paddock Wood 28th March 09

When I woke up on this cold and wet Saturday morning I just wanted to roll over and go back to sleep, however this wasn't goin to happen as I had organised this match. I dragged my arse out of bed, packed up the car and drove up to Ade's (wingnut) and we set off for the 40 minute drive upto Paddock Wood.

When we arrived we was greeted by a few of the others that had arrived early. I knew that fishing was going to be hard today due to the weather and it didn't look like it was going to get any better. We had the draw and I got Ade to draw my peg, he drew the one right at the end of the lake for me. Great was the thought as I left my trolly at home hoping for a short walk today.

I lumped the gear down to the peg, I've never fished this end before and Gary (Oggie) told me that this end never fishes well. I decided to try the new pellet waggler rod and also setup the pole, for both a margin swim and around 8 meters out.

For bait I had the usual asortment of soft and hard hook pellets, corn and luncheon meat, which I knew worked as Oggie and his son and myself had a practice session the week before and I'd had over 100lb of fish.

I called all in, feeding to margin swims and also 2 large cups of hemp,corn and 4mm pellets was fed at 8 meters. I waited a couple of minutes for the feed to settle then went for the 8 meter pole line the wind was directly in my face and the pole was quite hard to handle, I soon had a small carp in the net around a 1lb mark.

I continued to feed the pole line and the margins, however the fish was slow to respond to this tactic, I change to the pellet waggler and a had a couple of small carp on this method then back to waiting for bites. I swapped back to the pole and then had a steady stream of small carp, the disaster struck the umbrella pole snapped and I spent the next half hour sorting the mess out.

The wind changed again and more rain streamed down, with 45 minutes to go I hooked into a nice carp and shortly after had a carp of around 6lb in the net.

I'd had enough and decided to pack up early, when the weigh-in arrived at my net my last carp weighed an impressive 9lb, which made my second net made it to 32lb in total.

Due to the weather the lake didn't produce the fish it's capable of.

Results

1st 88lb Peter (Mugger)Morton
2nd 83lb Keith (Disco)
3rd 57lb Greg Andrews
4th 47lb Colin H
5th 36lb Ade (Wingnut)
6th 32lb Paul (Paulvis69)
7th 27lb Gary (Oggie)
7th 27lb Nick
9th 25lb Mick the Chippy
10th 18lb Colin
11th 17lb John
12th 6lb 4oz Alex
13th 5lb 4oz DHL Man

Did Not Weigh in (all below)

14th Omega Mike(Bad day at the office)
14th Andy
14th Josh

Woke up and went back to bed( Wise move)

17th PeterMid

House lake - Wylands 14th March 09

Got up there for around 8.00am met up with some of the same old faces and a few more new ones.

At the draw I managed peg 1 (tree section)favoured by some however I'd never fished this peg in any of the practice sessions I'd have prefered to draw the road section, however not to be.

As the lake fishes much the same I opted to fish double red maggot on the hook and feed 10-20 maggots a time, also introducing corn throughout the match.

I setup with itentions at fishing at 4metres, I'd already made up a sellection of pole rigs from 0.3grams to 1.5 grams just in case the wind did get up.

At the all in, I fed a couple of poaches of red maggots and to my right what looked like a good second swim I baited with some sweetcorn.

Within seconds the float went under and I was into my first fish a small skimmer around 4oz everytime I moved the float I fed some more red maggots.

After around 30 minutes I changed to sweetcorn and the bites just stopped , I changed back to red maggots and again more bites. I had a few pints of bronze maggots so I got them on the hook and was still getting fish.

I carried on catching for around 3 three hours, however when the sun came out this jst killed the fishing and the bites became harder and harder to get.

I changed to sweetcorn however still nothing. I tried my second swim and this was also dead.

For the last few hours of the match I struggled to put 2lb in the net.

It was the first Maggot Drowners match that I weighed in at I managed to finish 11th overall with 21lb 6oz. I was disappointed that I didn't draw the roadside as I'm sure I'd have doubled my weight on that section without a doubt.

House lake - Wylands 7th March 09

I arrived at wylands House lake around 9.30am the only other people that was there was a couple kids on the island looked like they where fishing for carp.

Anyway I set up the new Preston Innovations GXR 3000 pole. I opted to fish at 4-5 meters.

I setup with 0.4 gramm float and plumbed the depth which was rund 5 feet on this peg.

As for bait I had 4 pints of red maggots and tin of corn, some 1mm feed pellets and 4 and 6mm soft hook pellets. I started feeding a few red maggots with every putin and this resulted in a few small roach. Within half an hour I'd had around 30 small roach and a couple of small skimmer bream.

I stepped up the feeding and added some sweetcorn to the loose feed, this started to bring the skimmers and some better roach the biggest being around 12oz. All I was using was double red maggot on the hook.

I changed to corn on the hook and the bites seemed to disappear. However after 10 minutes I got my first bite on corn, the was a better stamp of skimmer. I changed back to double red maggot and the bites where straight back the as before I swapped to corn.

I started to feed around 10 maggots with every put in, and the fish responded with positive bites every few seconds.

I decided to pack up around 3.00pm and I'd say I'd had aound 40lb of silvers in that time. Trevor (M.T. Net) spent some time having a chat.

Oast Farm - Buxted 14th Feb 2009

This was the first time I'd met with the MaggotDrowners.com guy's, however when I turned up I was met with a warm welcome, which is always a good start.

I found out that there weas going only be 10 fishing today, we paid our peg fees and drew for the pegs, I drew peg 8.

Which was down a steep bank with a platform for a nice position. To my left was a large over hanging tree, straight out was open water and to the right a small bush in the water.

Having never fished here before I opted for setting up the pole at 6 meters, with one rig on the bottom and set another at about half depth. I'd brought all manner of baits, however I'd recently read an article on white pellets , I had some 4mm white feed pellets and some soft hook pellets, however the 4 mm hook pellets are very soft and when you put the hook into them they just brake up into peices. I used the faithful pellet bander and made up a few 4mm and 8 mm pellets.

At the all in I fed two swims one just to the left and the other 6 meter swim. I started to fish the 6 meter line and had bites from the off. After a few missed bites I managed to hook into a nice carp around 3-4lb. Then next bite I had another one around 2lb and it still wasn't even 9.30am.

The swim completely died so I tried the other swim and after about an hour nothing was producing at all. I tried the right hand side and still nothing, as the time was ticking and fast approaching 12.00, I went back on the 6 meter line. I started to get bites again and soon had another carp of around 2lb in the net. I was getting bites on the pellet however I was missing the fish, I noticed that the float was rocketing underwhich seemed to point out to roach more than carp, I changed to double red maggot and managed to get around 5 small roach. Then again the swim died.
I tried the righthand swim again and managed to get a small carp probably just over a 1lb.

Towards the end of the match BillG came down to see how we where all doing, He then told me I should have fished striaght out in front and fed with micro pellets and used corn on the hook. I told me you have to have confidence in this tactic as the carp will come and it could take a few hours however you must keep feeding. Wonderful I thought why is it these people always give you this information when you have 15 minutes left.

However it was a good days fishing and it didn't rain.

I've been lucky enough to have been picked to fish at Monk Lakes for this quailifer on 13th May 2009.

With the likes of Darren Cox and Bob Wotton also in this quailifer and also another 128 entries

Wise old men well not really.........!

Well this is what happened at the pub last friday night, a couple of the locals have taken up trout fishing and watching them add a loop to the end of the fly line.

House lake - Wylands 5th Feb

I'm off back to Wylands House lake this weekend, for another practice session, not sure wether Ade(wingnut) will be joining me this time.

This time I'm going to try a few different methods:- waggler and also pole at 6 meters. using 4mm pellets

I'm aiming for around 20-30Lb bag for the day, which I think should be about right in this weather.

Well when I woke up saturday morning it had snowed over night, so I knew this was going to be hard fishing today.

I dropped the otherhalf to work, then remmebered I left me pole rollers at home so a quick trip back home to pick them up. I decided to go via Wishing Tree lake a local club water , when I drove past it wasn't frozen so I knew neither would be the house lake.

When I arrived at Wylands, I was amazed at the amount of people that was fishing, there was already 5 or 6 fishing the house lake. I knew where I wanted to fish so I could judge my performance over the last practice session with Ade(wingnut). I unloaded the gear and parked the car upand started to setup. I lake was still as there was little wind. I opted for the pole and set it up to fish at 6 meters. At this depth the lake seems flat at about 5 feet deep. Having already spoken to Trevor (M.T Net) the week earlier I had a good idea of how I should be fishing.

Bait wise I had 4 pints of red maggots, a tin of sweetcorn, some small red worms, and mixed up around 3lb of groundbait.

I treated the session as a match with a planned 15 minute break to get some food.

I fed 6 balls of groundbait at the off , followed with 2 pouches of red maggots, then shipped out with double red maggot on the hook.

Within seconds the float went under and small roach of about 6oz was swung to hand, it was back out again followed with pouch full of maggots again, soon the float disappered again, this time it was a rudd around 10oz mark. I continued to feed at every put in of the pole. With every 10-15 put ins I introduced a small ball of groundbait.

Once I built up enough food the swim I started to catch skimmer bream every cast, these ranged from 6oz to 1.5lb's .

At the break I changed onto a lighter elastic and used the same rig, then out again I had a couple more skimmers on the new tip, I started to feed a few grains of corn every few minutes. I tried sweetcorn on the hook as this normally brings the bigger fish, however this isn't the case I couldn't get a bite at all, however back to double red maggot the flaot disapeared within seconds.

I decided to give up around 3.15pm having used just over 3.5 pints of maggots and all the groundbait.

I would estimate I had a good 40-50lb of fish throughout the day.

The only thing I would say is that last time I fished with the method feeder for part of the session towards the island and did have bigger bream to 3.5lb's

House Lake - Wylands 31st Jan 2009

We decided to try the House Lake at Wylands as we have a match booked there later this year, off we went for a practice session.

Well this morning started very slowly firstly missing the alarm going off, then having to go get the car load and load it up, however I must thank the idiot who knocked Rob's bike over causing around £300 worth of damage well you idiots, hopefully you'll get something in return.


Anyway we arrived at the House Lake at around 8.30 ish, there was only two very cold looking carp anglers on the lake so we decided to fish the pegs near the road.

Both Ade and myself decided to use the ledger rod first and was going to swap to the pole later that morning, I prepared some 2mm feed pellets and set-up. I baited up with a 8mm banded pellet, hanging down from the pellet feeder about 4 inches.
First cast towards the island I had a good bite and the tip went round and Bream no.1 was soon in the net. Over th next few casts I soon was landing my sixith bream of the day.

I already started to feed another swim straight out in front at around 6 meters. MT Net came and introduced himself and told us that the House Lake fishes better at 6 meters on the pole. I setup a 6 meter line on the pole, it's aroung 5 foot deep, I continued to feed around 20-30 maggots every puttin and soon the skimmers was on the feed.

Only having around a pint of mixed maggots, I was told that red ones worked best I knew that this wouldn't be the day of the best results.

I had around 8 skimmers and a handfull of roach on this line.

According to MT Net (Trevor) you need around 4 pints for an average match, and also some corn which I tried and didn't have any good results on however with the wind blowing from the east at around 20mph this kept the tempature well down to near freezing.

I'm going to have another day on the House Lake in the very near future, where I'm going to try a few more methods, I used to fish a bream venue some years ago and so I'm going to try float fishing with a waggler float and try some different baiting method.

Maver Pairs 2009

After a chat over a few beers we're going to enter the Maver Pairs 2009, this will be the first time we have fished as a [air, however I don't think there will be any problems. A few practise sessions and we'll be away.

The qulifier is to be held at Monk Lakes, near Maidstone and I've got a few matches already lined up there this year.

I've just got confirmation of our place at Monk Lakes near Maidstone on the 2nd May 2009.

Fish OMania 2009

I've applied this morning for my place at the Fish O Mania 2009 to be fished at Monk Lakes, near Maidstone on Wednesday 13th May 2009.

Hopefully I'll be there along with another 100 anglers, all trying for the chance of winning the big prize of £25,000.

So over the next few months it'll be over to Monk Lakes for a practise on all the lakes, with different methods and tactics.

Bodiam Castle River Rother Jan 09

Well I must have been mad it was -3.5c when Ade picked me up, as we headed through Hastings so we headed to Buckshole a club water I'd had a look the day before and it wasn't frozen.

Well it was frozen solid this morning, so out with the map and club book to find a river, back in the van we had decided on the Bodiam Castle stretch, when we arrived another club was having a match so we just fished at the end of the match.

Both ade and myself set up feeder rods, I went for the cage feeder and Ade for a 1/8oz bomb with maggot.

The temp was going south all the time, ade had a small roach within a few minutes and I was getting bites but missing them constantly. Finally I hit one then snap lost it.

I changed to a size 16 hook with 4lb hook length and still bites however I still couldn't hit them, I tried leaving them, striking early and still nothing. Ade caught another roach and I noticed the odd fish from the people fishing the match.

Finally I had a bite that I connected with the fish was on I got it to the bank and into the net it was a chub just over the pound mark worth waiting for.

I was still getting bites however not fish so we decided to give it up as a bad job.

When we packed up and went back to the van the temp read -7.5c I told you we was mad.....!

Monk Lakes Xmas Open 28th Dec 08

Woke up on the Sunday morning took a look out the window and did it look cold out there yes it did. Anyway I had decided to go regardless of the weather.

As Monk's is about 40 minutes drive I left with plenty of time to spare, when I arrived there was already a few people there, as I'm new new to the area I didn't know anyone, which didn't bother me. I paid my money and waited for the draw, then it was my turn to pick, well there it was peg 35 on Lake 1 as I'd only fished Monk's once before on Lake 4 last summer, I knew this would be a good learning curve.

So out with the gear from the car and off to the peg, when I got there it was a second to an end peg for this match, the wind seemed to be getting up and the cold of the day I knew I would probably be better on the bottom with the feeder. I also set the pole up for around 11meters and a margin rig, however when plumbeting I noticed it was rather shallow at this end of the lake.

I noticed I'd left the maggots at home in the fridge (Thinking of that the fridge was probably warmer), the guy next to me gave me a handful of maggots, the whistle blew all in.

I fed a the margin area and the 11mtere I when went straight for the feeder rod with a banded pellet, cast out about half way.

I sat there and waited, a few fish was caught from other pegs, however nothing for me. Rebaited and cast out still nothing, after about hour and half I had my first bite, bang the tip went, I hit it it was on at last a fish, in the net it was a smallish carp around a 1lb.

I rebaited up and nothing for another hour, I changed off pellet onto corn and carried on feeding with micro pellets in the feeder, still nothing, with over 3 hours gone I changed to double red maggot, and cast out with a couple a minutes I had a bite, it was on and soon in the net, I cast out again with double maggot again the tip went round within minutes and another carp in the net. Then a third carp within next few minutes, I hope this was going to be a start of something, however it wasn't.

Disaster one gust of wind to much the pole rolled off the roller and smashed the 4th section, thank goodness for short 4's

Then finally another bite which resulted in a small skimmer bream also in the net, as the cold and wind dropped the temp I had a cup of soup and would you beleive the tip shot round I missed it, well that was the last of the bites and fish.

I was glad when I heard the whistle for all out I knew I hadn't done to bad as I had caught as I did notice numberous people leaving early. At the weigh in I had 4 carp and a skimmer for 8lb 8oz not bad for a hard day

Trout Fishing Before Christmas 08

Yet another cold december day, so we was off to the local trout lake as someone (me) had a good idea of lets get some trout for christmas and we can smoke our own. Sounded good after a few pints.

I picked up Pete about 12.00 and headed over, when we got there the wind was blowing I knew it was going to be a hard day.

Pete stayed down by the car, and me decided to go and walk round the lake, after about 30 minutes I had a nice 3lb in the bag and had noticed Pete caught a trout also, I wondered round a bit further and the wind was blowing straight in my face totally no good however I did manage to hook a little perch of 4oz.

I walked back to where Pete was fishing and saw him hit into a good fish, it was good when he got it into the net , it was a nice 6lb 6.5oz his largest to date.(see pic).

So I had a few casts and caught a couple more fish, we had both caught our limit, so back in the car to the pub to warm up.

Wishing Tree Practice Session Dec 08

Had nothing to do one monday so thought I'd take myself over to Wish Tree a local club water, having seen the report in the local paper I knew it had been fishing well.

Monday morning arrived had to take the other half to work, then off to the lake, get there about 8.30ish to my supprise their was no one on the lake, the lake to my self.

I headed down to the dam end setup the feeder rod with pellet feeder and 3in hair rig, as I wanted to get the method nailed I was only going to do one thing all day.

I soaked the 2mm feed pellets and banded a few 6 and 8mm pellets ready for the hook, finally finished setting up.

Acast around 40yards was the first target, I started getting the next feeder ready and bang the tip sailed round, I struck and it was on this seemed a nice fish, a few minutes later a 5lb in the net. Next cast came another carp around the same size, and then another. Things where looking great 3 fish 3 casts.

I carried on catching carp between 4-8lb for the next few hours although it did slow down a bit.

Then bang the tip shot round I hit into it and almost immediately I knew this was a better fish, after a good battle the common carp was in the net, this was the first double of the day a 12lb fish.

Thought it was time for a coffee, I baited up again and back out, then thump again this felt a really big fish, I changed my hook length to a 6lb since the last time I was on this lake, and was I glad of this.
I finally saw it I knew from that the moment this was my largest carp I had ever caught, so I had to be carefull. After what seemed an age it was finally in the net, and weighed in at 18lb 1oz. From that point I wondered if the day could get any better, I didn't caught anything bigger , but I contiued to caught carp. As time was ticking on I knew I had to start packing up.

So last few casts I thought, cast out the tip sailed round again, thisd time to my surprise it was a double figure mirror carp, I'd only ever had these in the 1-2lb range before.
So last cast as I had to go and get the other half soon, it went round again, this was a huge fish as it took off about 50 yards up the lake, this carp was having none of it, but I wasn't giving up also, so we had a fight on, after about 15 minutes I saw it, now this was the biggest carp I'd ever hooked, this must have been in the twenties, just as I got the net ready, the hook length snapped, I was gutted.

However looking back on the day I managed to get the rig sorted , and I'd had 55 carp, 4 in double figures the best being my 18lb'er and a nice mirror carp, this totalled upto to around 200-250lb of carp from a club water in just under 6 hours not a bad session......!

1st Wylands Match Nov 08

I decided to give one of there Sunday matches a go. Turned up on the day it was over cast with a cold wind blowing.

Waited for the draw, and drew peg 163. After I found the peg it was about 8-9 meters wide with a large over hanging tree straight in front. A nice left hand swim in the margins and to the right another over hanging tree.

So with a three swim option I set up my rigs for margin and another the far bank. I started at the all in on the far bank rig with paste, I baited the other swims with pellet and corn. after about 30 minites I still hadn't had a touch, I decided to try maggot on the hook, instant success, the pole float shot under, I struck this wasn't a big fish, however it was a fish. I swung it to hand it was a pumpkin sunfish( a first for me). Back out on the far bank and another bite, yet another Pumpkin Sunfish. I must have had all of 4oz's in the net now.

I put another 6 small pumpkin sunfish in the net, maybe a pound if I was lucky, I tried the right hand margin line and nothing there, I kept feeding and still nothing. After about 2 hours with still no real fish in the net I noticed the guy on the next peg land a carp around 6lb. The float shot under and I just lifted the pole thinking it was another small pumpkin sunfish, well I was wrong the elastic shot out of the end of the pole about 20 feet it was a carp , after a few minutes I managed to get a look at it, it was around 8-10lb and it was on a silly thin elastic after 20 minutes finally in the net .

That was the end of the fish that day apart from having to rescue a 4th and 5th section of the pole as the wind threw it in the water for me.

First Time at Wishing Tree (Hastings) Nov 08

Arranged for a early Sunday morning with Ade, however the usual 15-20 minutes late, when we arrived there was already a few anglers down there.

I decided to fish at the end of the lake by the reeds, having just bought a MAP Parabolix STi bomb rod, well it had to be used. Well tackled up with a method feeder size 16 hook and 3lb hook length with 6lb main line.

After about 20 minutes has my first bite, the tip nearly flew off the rod rest, I struck into a nice fish, ah not for long it was off across the lake 30seconds it was gone.

Baited back up and waited again, then bang round again, this time it felt a bit better, the rod was bent round double after about 10 minutes it was in the net. A nice common carp of 15lb, not a bad start.

Then baited back up and out again, nothing for a while, had a few more casts then bang right round into another Carp, this felt alot smaller however it was fighting well a few minutes later another common carp in the net this was around 6lb.

Out with another cast and nothing for an hour,then a small bite I struck, it was on then ping see you later.

We decided to pack up around 12.00 we had other stuff to do.

Welcome

Hi,

Welcome to Fishy-Fingers Blog, I started this to keep a record of my match fishing attempts starting in late 2008.