Weight - 114lb 8oz
Catch - 40 Carp, 1 Bream
Weather - Warm & sunny, gusty breeze
Match - Angling Trust Master - 15th out of 66 (4th out of 11 - section)
Right the day had come around again and today was an opportunity to banish last years result when I completely and utterly blew out.
A couple of weeks ago I discovered that only 11 teams had entered, instead of the 16 from last years event. The reason was a clash of dates with the Winter League final, also run by the Angling Trust a move which has seen quite a lot of criticism aimed at the Trust. A thread has already started on the MFS site and here was my response
"I have to agree with the comments so far. As an average angler I wanted to fish the Masters, because of the expectation of fishing against some household names. Instead we have 4 teams (all Marukyu) made up of local experts, 3 Internet teams and at least 2 teams (South West MG & Sconezone) who's roots originated from the internet. This means there was only 2 teams who have been attracted because it was Angling Trust event, which I think is disappointing and unless the Angling Trust, get it right next year, ie don't clash the dates with another major AT event, this match will lose its prestige. The fact there was no AT representative and the lack of support from the major teams you have to question whether the AT actually care, which I think is quite arrogant considering they insist we are AT members to fish.
Having said that, I enjoyed the day, thought I did enough to pick up in my section on Foundation, but ultimately the top 3 weights came from the top end, which left me a bit deflated, although I beat the local experts either side of me as well as beating top anglers like Rob Austin and Andy Kinder.
Next year, I will have to consider whether I want to do it again. I have fished 4 Glebe matches prior to the Masters to "tune" into the venue, which when you are travelling from Bristol represents a big investment of fuel, bait etc. So if the Masters simply becomes a match for locals & internet teams will it be worth the time and effort. Probably not, however it the match becomes as it describes the Masters, you need the top teams and top anglers to fish, in which case I will definitely be more interested in fishing next year."
I was fishing under the South West Match Group banner run by Mark and we felt we had a strong team (Mark Poppleton, Nick Merry, Paul Law, Pete Bailey, Darren Frost and myself). Unfortunately Paul feel seriously ill during the week and Andy Fox kindly stepped in last minute.
Just after 5am Nick picked me up and as it happened we both been awake since 2am. Sue had decided to let me sleep by staying downstairs, coming to bed at 2, but unfortunately she woke me and I couldn't get back to sleep.
With only 11 teams there was going to be plenty of room, but the Big Lake at Mallory Park was still the place to avoid, whilst Pool 1 was definitely the place everyone wanted. As a team our initial thought was we had a good draw, with Pete on 24 pool 1, Mark had the "boards" on Pretties, Darren had 66 (end peg) on Pool 4, Andy had 101 on Pool 7 which was OK. This meant Nick was the unlucky angler to have peg 7 on the Big Lake, whilst I had 31 on Foundations.
I've only seen Foundation Lake once before a couple of years ago, when it was tree lined. Since then, the trees have been cut down to open up the lake to the elements, also the lake was drained in February with many fish removed (as well as added) and the information gleaned suggested the lake had carp averaging 3-5lb and very few silvers. The shape of Foundation is like a stretched pyramid with 6 pegs along the dam wall, 15 pegs running up the right side and 17 down the left side. There was also 3 islands running the length of the lake left of centre.
My peg was on the left side between the gap of the first and second island. Of the pegs down this end of the lake I was quite pleased, because the south easterly wind was blowing though the gap so at least I had some ripple to fish into, whilst the only angler (Andy Kinder) I could see opposite was sat in the flat calm water.
With plenty of time to set up I had a walk around the lake and really fancied the pegs at the top end of the lake. With the wind blowing into that end, there was also a nice ripple on the water and I really fancied the top 2 pegs.
The one thing that really surprised me was the clarity of the water and was concerned that my tactic of catching shallow wouldn't be right. Also the margins were only 2ft deep and you could just about see the bottom. Speaking to the locals they felt this would be a tough match with 100lb likely to be a good weight over the 5hrs.
On the all in I started blasting the 13m with caster and after 20mins I still hadn't caught, whilst Andy opposite and the anglers either side of me were already catching their third, fourth and fifth fish from their margins or 5m line. I have to admit I started to panic a little, because I really didn't want to blow out again!
I got my first fish from my margin on pellet, but that was it. By continually feeding the caster the fish finally arrived and I started to catch, but the fish were really spooky in the clear water. Although I had some ripple, the wind was blowing into my face, so occasionally catapulting caster 13m didn't quite make the distance and fishing with a longish line, meant the rig was blowing towards me and the fish were backing away from pole. The other issue was the size of the fish which were smaller than I expected and some of the fish had quite small mouths.
I didn't think was I was catching quickly enough and felt the fish were shying away from the triple or double maggot too often in the clear water, so decided to scale down from .17 & 16 B911, down to .14 and 18 B911, fishing with a single maggot. It was like flicking a switch and I suddenly started catching properly, however many of the fish still had to teased into taking the bait, by either dropping the bait in front of any fish or very slowly dragging rig around.
After 2.5hrs I was up to 17 fish and was fairly sure I had caught up with those anglers I could see, but my concern was the size of my fish, which were still smaller than I had expected. Roy Marlow turned up and reported that most anglers were admitting to 40-50lb, and I thought I had about 40lb.
Going into the 4th hour I was struggling again as the fish backed off. I had tried the waggler earlier without success, but decided to give it another go, but again scaling down to fish single maggot and I had my best period of the match. I was still concerned the average size of my fish was too small, but at least I was catching more than those around me.
In the final hour I lost a couple of fish and snapped my hooklength, a quick look into my margin on paste produced my smallest carp of the day, then my biggest (5lb). Switching back to waggler and I continued to catch, further looks into the margin produced odd fish, but they weren't any bigger than those I was catching on the waggler.
By the end I was really pleased with how it had gone and was sure I had at least 100lb, but although the anglers either side (both Glebe members) had few fish theres looked bigger. Fortunately I caught enough as they weighed 91 & 99lb.
Adam Wakelin won the match from the end peg (p22) on my bank casting a feeder up the lake into peg 20. Dave Swain weighed 125lb from the end peg (p15) on the right bank, with Wayne Melling taking 139lb from the next peg down. So the top 3 came from the top end of the lake and if I'm being honest was left feeling a little deflated, because I thought I had done enough to at least claim 3rd and a pick up, but ultimately you had 3 very good anglers on the top 3 pegs on the lake.
As a team, we had 3 good results. Pete won his section, Mark got 3rd and my 4th, but unfortunately we also had 3 below middle results, finishing 6th and the team pay outs went down to 5th.
1st 178-8 0 Adam Wakelin (Drennan)
2nd 177- 8 Aaron Moreton (Total Fishing)
3rd 177- 8 Dom Lanni (Marukyu Green)
4th 171- 0 Jarrad Smith (Total Fishing)
5th 164- 8 Kev Russell (Marukyu Green)
6th 156- 0 Pete Bailey (South West MG)
7th 152- 8 Chris Downs (Marukyu Red)
8th 151-14 Jay De Clouet (Marukyu Green)
9th 146- 4 Phil Ringer (Drennan)
Showing posts with label Glebe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Glebe. Show all posts
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
06/08/12 - Glebe - Pool 1
Weight - 128lb 4oz
Catch - 24 Carp, 3 Skimmers, 3 Perch
Weather - Showers, but mostly dry. Gusty Wind.
Match - MFS Float Only - 3rd out of 20
This was the last match before the Masters on Saturday and a final chance to refine any rigs etc.
On arrival there was a gentle breeze blowing down the lake into peg 30 and it looked like a draw in the 20s would be favourite and you definately didnt want to draw between 2-7. Well I got my wish with peg 23. Ian "Scone" Toplis drew 24, which he described as his favourite edge peg and he intended to spend most of the match edge dwelling. To my left on 21 was Andy Fox on his first visit to the Glebe, which he enjoyed.
Todays tactics was hopefully fairly simple - catch shallow on caster. The issue however was the weather, it was all over the place, which meant the fish really didnt want to know. We had flat calm conditions, then a strong wind, heavy rain, before going back to warm flat conditions.
I started on the shallow rig catching 2 fish, including my biggest Glebe fish of 12-12, within 30mins, but it was hard going. The fish were there, but they really didnt seem to be feeding properly. I even struggled on the waggler, which last time caught me a few fish.
After an hour I had an early look on my 5m line where I had been feeding 4s & 6s, but only had 1 small skimmer to show for my efforts, so back out on the shallow rig. After 2 hours, the jungle drums said that Mark on peg 14 had 10 carp. Both Nick on 20 and Andy had a couple carp, whilst I was up to 6.
The fishing proved difficult, it was a case of trying to mug a carp you could see milling around, but there was loads of time when the carp just shyed away from the bait. Speaking to Nick on the drive back, we both had the same issue, where you had to keep changing depth and how the bait was presented to keep the fish coming.
In the last hour the fish just seemed to completly disappear, so switched to my 5m line, where I had 3 small carp on paste, followed by a couple more shallow, before finishing down my margin were I had been feeding pellet and caught a 10lber on paste.
Sconey won from his favourite edge peg catching on 10mm JPZs over groundbait, whilst the 2nd place angler caught on paste, which meant I was the best of the shallow boys. Unfortunately for Herbie who was between these anglers had to leave early due to vandals causing some flooding at work.
1st 173- 0 - Ian "Scone" Toplis - p24
2nd 155- 4 - Covblaze - p27
3rd 128- 4 - Ken Rayner - p23
4th 116- 4 - Nick Merry - p20
5th 114- 8 - Mark Poppleton - p14
6th 111- 0 - Ross N - p1
Catch - 24 Carp, 3 Skimmers, 3 Perch
Weather - Showers, but mostly dry. Gusty Wind.
Match - MFS Float Only - 3rd out of 20
This was the last match before the Masters on Saturday and a final chance to refine any rigs etc.
On arrival there was a gentle breeze blowing down the lake into peg 30 and it looked like a draw in the 20s would be favourite and you definately didnt want to draw between 2-7. Well I got my wish with peg 23. Ian "Scone" Toplis drew 24, which he described as his favourite edge peg and he intended to spend most of the match edge dwelling. To my left on 21 was Andy Fox on his first visit to the Glebe, which he enjoyed.
Todays tactics was hopefully fairly simple - catch shallow on caster. The issue however was the weather, it was all over the place, which meant the fish really didnt want to know. We had flat calm conditions, then a strong wind, heavy rain, before going back to warm flat conditions.
I started on the shallow rig catching 2 fish, including my biggest Glebe fish of 12-12, within 30mins, but it was hard going. The fish were there, but they really didnt seem to be feeding properly. I even struggled on the waggler, which last time caught me a few fish.
After an hour I had an early look on my 5m line where I had been feeding 4s & 6s, but only had 1 small skimmer to show for my efforts, so back out on the shallow rig. After 2 hours, the jungle drums said that Mark on peg 14 had 10 carp. Both Nick on 20 and Andy had a couple carp, whilst I was up to 6.
The fishing proved difficult, it was a case of trying to mug a carp you could see milling around, but there was loads of time when the carp just shyed away from the bait. Speaking to Nick on the drive back, we both had the same issue, where you had to keep changing depth and how the bait was presented to keep the fish coming.
In the last hour the fish just seemed to completly disappear, so switched to my 5m line, where I had 3 small carp on paste, followed by a couple more shallow, before finishing down my margin were I had been feeding pellet and caught a 10lber on paste.
Sconey won from his favourite edge peg catching on 10mm JPZs over groundbait, whilst the 2nd place angler caught on paste, which meant I was the best of the shallow boys. Unfortunately for Herbie who was between these anglers had to leave early due to vandals causing some flooding at work.
1st 173- 0 - Ian "Scone" Toplis - p24
2nd 155- 4 - Covblaze - p27
3rd 128- 4 - Ken Rayner - p23
4th 116- 4 - Nick Merry - p20
5th 114- 8 - Mark Poppleton - p14
6th 111- 0 - Ross N - p1
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
24/07/12 - Glebe - Pool 1
Weight - 134lb 12oz
Catch - 23 Carp, 18 Bream, 2 Chub
Weather - Hot & sunny, light winds
Match - England Ladies Fund Raiser - 5th out of 47, 4th out of 10 section
Today was a fund raiser for the England Ladies team, organised by Julie Abbott via the MFS website so they can compete in the World Championships. Whilst they get some kit, the cost of travelling etc has to come out of their own pockets so any money raised is very useful, including part of the £10k the men's team won at the Home International at Cudmore.
With 47 anglers fishing between pools 1, 5, 6 & 7 drawing a peg with some space would be important, plus everyone wanted pool 7 which has been fishing very well. However todays conditions were very different from my last visit, with a really hot day and little wind on the cards, fishing was likely to be tricky.
I found myself on pool 1 in the 20s again, peg 25 to be exact. I cant keep away from that end of the lake having now drawn it 4 times in 6 matches. Initially, I wasnt overly happy with my peg, since this end of the lake hasnt been the best, with the better weights coming from the bend and the middle of the lake.
For company I had Steve May on p26 and Colin (Billy No Fish from the MFS site) on p23. Included in my 10 peg section was Steve's son Andy May on p19 and Ian Toplis (scone) on p20 which is the best margin peg on the lake, so a really tough section.
I set up rigs to fish pellet, corn and paste down the left margin and at 5m, but was hoping I wouldnt need to spend too much time here, relying on catching shallow at 13m, feeding caster. I had brought 12pts (someone help Mike Nicholls off the floor!) which had been frozen.
On the all in the wind dropped and the ripple disappeared, so decided to start at 5m on paste whilst I built up the 13m line. After 20mins I had 1 bite, whilst Steve already had 6 small carp on the feeder cast to the far bank.
With a few carp now showing I set ablout catching shallow. As well as a pole rig I also set up a puddle chucker waggler to chase the carp around the swim. After nearly 3hrs Mark called to say he had at least 100lb already from peg 13(which he had moaned like hell about it being the worst peg on the lake!) and wanted to know how my end of the lake was doing. At the time I had 6 carp, plus about 12lb of silvers.
As the match progressed, there was more carp being drawn to the feed, but they didnt seem to be feeding properly. I had to keep switching between the waggler and the pole. When it was flat calm the waggler seemed best, plus I had most of my silvers on the waggler, whilst the pole was used when there was a ripple or when the carp came in close enough to mug. Steve was doing much the same thing, there was plenty of carp around, but they were just drifting between the 2 of us.
I did have a look down my margin, but only had a couple of knocks from silvers, so soon binned that. I also tried the 5m line where I had been feeding 6s and had a couple of decent skimmers and a carp.
At the all out I knew it would be close between Steve and myself, because we were matching each other carp for carp, although I had 18lb of silvers, but Steve had those early carp on the feeder. As it turned out it was very close, as Steve hooked his first fish down the margin on the whistle and landed an 8lber 10mins later, beating me by 4lb.
Pool 1 was definately the place to be with the top 5 weights coming from the lake. In hindsight the first 20mins of the match cost me 3rd in the match. I should have gone shallow straight away, because Steve finished 3rd, whilst Ian on p20 had 12 carp for 120lb in the last hour down his margin to finish with 136lb.
Mark won with his best ever match weight. He even had the cheek to say he was getting bored catching. Whilst I had to continually chase the fish around the swim, Mark just dropped his bait in and waited for the elastic to be pulled out.
I was just pleased to put an end to my worse run of 6 matches without a pick up, as I collected the section by default.
The day raised £850 thanks to a raffle and Roy not charging a pegging fee.
1st 280- 8 - Mark Poppleton - p13 (pool 1)
2nd 246- 4 - Andy May - p19 (pool 1)
3rd 138- 8 - Steve May - p26 (pool 1)
4th 136- 8 - Ian Toplis - p20 (pool 1)
5th 134-12 - Ken Rayner - p25 (pool 1)
6th 129- 4 - Shaun Little - p95 (pool 6)
Catch - 23 Carp, 18 Bream, 2 Chub
Weather - Hot & sunny, light winds
Match - England Ladies Fund Raiser - 5th out of 47, 4th out of 10 section
Today was a fund raiser for the England Ladies team, organised by Julie Abbott via the MFS website so they can compete in the World Championships. Whilst they get some kit, the cost of travelling etc has to come out of their own pockets so any money raised is very useful, including part of the £10k the men's team won at the Home International at Cudmore.
With 47 anglers fishing between pools 1, 5, 6 & 7 drawing a peg with some space would be important, plus everyone wanted pool 7 which has been fishing very well. However todays conditions were very different from my last visit, with a really hot day and little wind on the cards, fishing was likely to be tricky.
I found myself on pool 1 in the 20s again, peg 25 to be exact. I cant keep away from that end of the lake having now drawn it 4 times in 6 matches. Initially, I wasnt overly happy with my peg, since this end of the lake hasnt been the best, with the better weights coming from the bend and the middle of the lake.
For company I had Steve May on p26 and Colin (Billy No Fish from the MFS site) on p23. Included in my 10 peg section was Steve's son Andy May on p19 and Ian Toplis (scone) on p20 which is the best margin peg on the lake, so a really tough section.
I set up rigs to fish pellet, corn and paste down the left margin and at 5m, but was hoping I wouldnt need to spend too much time here, relying on catching shallow at 13m, feeding caster. I had brought 12pts (someone help Mike Nicholls off the floor!) which had been frozen.
On the all in the wind dropped and the ripple disappeared, so decided to start at 5m on paste whilst I built up the 13m line. After 20mins I had 1 bite, whilst Steve already had 6 small carp on the feeder cast to the far bank.
With a few carp now showing I set ablout catching shallow. As well as a pole rig I also set up a puddle chucker waggler to chase the carp around the swim. After nearly 3hrs Mark called to say he had at least 100lb already from peg 13(which he had moaned like hell about it being the worst peg on the lake!) and wanted to know how my end of the lake was doing. At the time I had 6 carp, plus about 12lb of silvers.
As the match progressed, there was more carp being drawn to the feed, but they didnt seem to be feeding properly. I had to keep switching between the waggler and the pole. When it was flat calm the waggler seemed best, plus I had most of my silvers on the waggler, whilst the pole was used when there was a ripple or when the carp came in close enough to mug. Steve was doing much the same thing, there was plenty of carp around, but they were just drifting between the 2 of us.
I did have a look down my margin, but only had a couple of knocks from silvers, so soon binned that. I also tried the 5m line where I had been feeding 6s and had a couple of decent skimmers and a carp.
At the all out I knew it would be close between Steve and myself, because we were matching each other carp for carp, although I had 18lb of silvers, but Steve had those early carp on the feeder. As it turned out it was very close, as Steve hooked his first fish down the margin on the whistle and landed an 8lber 10mins later, beating me by 4lb.
Pool 1 was definately the place to be with the top 5 weights coming from the lake. In hindsight the first 20mins of the match cost me 3rd in the match. I should have gone shallow straight away, because Steve finished 3rd, whilst Ian on p20 had 12 carp for 120lb in the last hour down his margin to finish with 136lb.
Mark won with his best ever match weight. He even had the cheek to say he was getting bored catching. Whilst I had to continually chase the fish around the swim, Mark just dropped his bait in and waited for the elastic to be pulled out.
I was just pleased to put an end to my worse run of 6 matches without a pick up, as I collected the section by default.
The day raised £850 thanks to a raffle and Roy not charging a pegging fee.
1st 280- 8 - Mark Poppleton - p13 (pool 1)
2nd 246- 4 - Andy May - p19 (pool 1)
3rd 138- 8 - Steve May - p26 (pool 1)
4th 136- 8 - Ian Toplis - p20 (pool 1)
5th 134-12 - Ken Rayner - p25 (pool 1)
6th 129- 4 - Shaun Little - p95 (pool 6)
Sunday, July 15, 2012
14/07/12 - Glebe - pool 4
Weight - 86lb 4oz
Catch - 30 Carp, 14 Skimmers, 2 Perch, 1 Roach
Weather - Heavy overnight rain. Cool start, warm & sunny later.
Match - MFS website - 3rd out of 6 section
Peg 73 on pool 4 was my home for the day. At least I managed to get away from pool 1 having fished it 3 times in 4 visits.
Pool 4 is one of the strip lakes with 10 pegs, unfortunately the feedback was it is a great feeder peg, but generally not a great draw and checking the results from yesterdays match and only 13lb came from the peg for plum last!. Peg 66 which is the end peg was suppose to be the best peg on the lake, so it looked like I was at the wrong end again, although at least this time there was a nice ripple on the water.
Yesterdays after match chat was a little mixed. Corn didn't work for some, but worked for others, also expanders seemed to be working for 30-40lb bag of skimmers at 6m. The one thing that didn't seem to working was pellet shallow, with most catching on the deck.
I had decided to use caster shallow, but due to the heavy overnight rain, the start of the match was quite cool & cloudy so started on the deck feeding corn & hemp at 13m and then 6mm pellet & corn at 6m. The 13m line was a waste of time with only 1x 1lb carp caught on double corn, whilst the short line produced small skimmers and carp up to 2lb on either 6mm expander or corn, feeding a small handful of pellet & corn.
After about an hour I had about 10lb and already feeling like today would be better than yesterday. The sun was starting to make an appearance making it feel a lot warmer, so I also started to feed caster, whilst I stayed on the 6m line.
The rest of the match was spent mostly fishing shallow, switching occasionally back to the short line and my margin. Initially I was really struggling to catch shallow. There was plenty of fish showing, but they just didn't seem to be feeding properly and it was only after an hour that I started to get a run of fish together, but I had to keep chasing the fish around the swim, including some caught shallow at 6m.
Then the wind dropped completely and the fish became really difficult to catch - again. It then just became a case of feeding 2 or 3 pouches of caster in one hit to pull the fish is then try to drop the bait on the nose of a passing carp. I had a few on the waggler when they shyed completely away from the pole.
Normally I would expect 30 carp to go at least 100lb, but today I had quite a few squeakers, as well as a couple of 8-9lbers. The disappointment for me was not being able to make my margin work. I had been feeding it with corn and hemp, but when I went over it with double corn I would get loads of little dinks and the odd "proper" bites but no fish. I only needed a couple of decent margin fish to claim 2nd in section. So I obviously got the feeding wrong and need to approach it differently next time I'm here
1st 152- 4 - RossN (Glebe) - p100 (pool 7)
2nd 140-12 - Neil Powell (Hillbilly) - p85 (pool 5)
3rd 137- 6 - Martin Church (Wales) - p70 (pool 4)
4th 137- 0 - NoHope - p98 (pool 7)
5th 126- 8 - Rob Dickinson - p102 (pool 7)
6th 124- 8 - Hathers - p109 (pool 7)
Catch - 30 Carp, 14 Skimmers, 2 Perch, 1 Roach
Weather - Heavy overnight rain. Cool start, warm & sunny later.
Match - MFS website - 3rd out of 6 section
Peg 73 on pool 4 was my home for the day. At least I managed to get away from pool 1 having fished it 3 times in 4 visits.
Pool 4 is one of the strip lakes with 10 pegs, unfortunately the feedback was it is a great feeder peg, but generally not a great draw and checking the results from yesterdays match and only 13lb came from the peg for plum last!. Peg 66 which is the end peg was suppose to be the best peg on the lake, so it looked like I was at the wrong end again, although at least this time there was a nice ripple on the water.
Yesterdays after match chat was a little mixed. Corn didn't work for some, but worked for others, also expanders seemed to be working for 30-40lb bag of skimmers at 6m. The one thing that didn't seem to working was pellet shallow, with most catching on the deck.
I had decided to use caster shallow, but due to the heavy overnight rain, the start of the match was quite cool & cloudy so started on the deck feeding corn & hemp at 13m and then 6mm pellet & corn at 6m. The 13m line was a waste of time with only 1x 1lb carp caught on double corn, whilst the short line produced small skimmers and carp up to 2lb on either 6mm expander or corn, feeding a small handful of pellet & corn.
After about an hour I had about 10lb and already feeling like today would be better than yesterday. The sun was starting to make an appearance making it feel a lot warmer, so I also started to feed caster, whilst I stayed on the 6m line.
The rest of the match was spent mostly fishing shallow, switching occasionally back to the short line and my margin. Initially I was really struggling to catch shallow. There was plenty of fish showing, but they just didn't seem to be feeding properly and it was only after an hour that I started to get a run of fish together, but I had to keep chasing the fish around the swim, including some caught shallow at 6m.
Then the wind dropped completely and the fish became really difficult to catch - again. It then just became a case of feeding 2 or 3 pouches of caster in one hit to pull the fish is then try to drop the bait on the nose of a passing carp. I had a few on the waggler when they shyed completely away from the pole.
Normally I would expect 30 carp to go at least 100lb, but today I had quite a few squeakers, as well as a couple of 8-9lbers. The disappointment for me was not being able to make my margin work. I had been feeding it with corn and hemp, but when I went over it with double corn I would get loads of little dinks and the odd "proper" bites but no fish. I only needed a couple of decent margin fish to claim 2nd in section. So I obviously got the feeding wrong and need to approach it differently next time I'm here
1st 152- 4 - RossN (Glebe) - p100 (pool 7)
2nd 140-12 - Neil Powell (Hillbilly) - p85 (pool 5)
3rd 137- 6 - Martin Church (Wales) - p70 (pool 4)
4th 137- 0 - NoHope - p98 (pool 7)
5th 126- 8 - Rob Dickinson - p102 (pool 7)
6th 124- 8 - Hathers - p109 (pool 7)
13/07/12 - Glebe - Pool 1
Weight - 53lb 0oz
Catch - 10 Carp, 12 Skimmers
Weather - Rainy start, cleared later, light winds
Match - MFS website - 38th out of 45 - 6th out of 7 section
Today was the first of a 2 dayer at the Glebe. I travelled up with Mark and we ended up having a pig of a journey with 3 lanes closed on the M42, we managed to get on the M6, but due to restricted access we had to go northbound and it then took 3 junctions before we could turn around and head back in the correct direction. Despite this it was still better than sitting in stationary traffic.
With the Angling Trust Masters next month I wanted to get some practice and today we had 45 anglers booked in over 5 lakes. I was just thankful to actually be fishing after pulling my back last weekend, but a rather intense osteopath session sorted me out. I also brought a Velcro strap belt to support my lower back and it really worked.
I found myself on peg 29 on pool 1 which was at the far end of the pool, one peg from the end. Reports suggested I was at the wrong end of the lake, with most of the recent weights coming from around peg 8. Steve on peg 30 said he struggled from the same peg a few weeks ago. Although there was no ripple in our part of the lake there was a few fish moving around on the surface, so I was actually quite hopeful of a good day, plus I had a spare peg to my left.
On the all in, I swung out the mugging rig with 8mm pellet and I had a 8lber straight away - perhaps I was going to have a good day after all. This was followed by a smaller carp 10mins later, but all the surface fish soon disappeared.
I had cupped in sweetcorn and hemp at 6m, as well as 13m. The 6m line produced a small carp, but the 13m had failed and with 90mins already gone I only had 3 carp.
A few skimmers had started to show over my 6m line by continually feeding corn and hemp, switching to just corn later, but they were coming too slowly and any carp I caught on the deck were only small.
Since the 13m line failed to produce I started to catapult 6s, switching to 8s later to try and catch shallow, but neither had the desired effect and with half the match gone I still only 3 carp, plus a few more skimmers from my 6m line.
I had brought some caster with me, but as yet hadn't fed any, mainly because I hoped to catch properly on pellet and keep my caster (by freezing them) for the more important matches at the Glebe, but it was frustrating that I couldn't catch so started to feed the caster over the 13m line. This would also show the difference between caster and pellet.
Well the caster certainly pulled a few fish in, but with no ripple as soon as I shipped out the pole, the carp would shy away and all I could catch was skimmers and a couple small carp. After an hour of this I was getting more frustrated, so I got off my box and set up a waggler to chase the carp. 1st cast I almost had the rod pulled out of hand, unfortunately the next carp didn't come quite as quickly. In fact I had to work really hard to get a bite, continually changing the depth of the waggler.
Going into the last hour Steve on p30 had stopped catching altogether, whilst I kept picking up the odd fish, including 2 carp in the last 10mins shallow on the pole. I thought it would be close between Steve and myself, but due to bankside vegetation I couldn't really see down the lake. As it happened, Steve weighed 49lb for last, whilst my 53lb was 2nd to last in the section, whilst the weights just got better the further down the lake you went. Today was a genuine case of drawing poorly, which was disappointing having travelled all that distance.
So onto our overnight accommodation which Mark booked. Image our surprise when we entered the room to see a double bed! Today just keeps on giving! Mark eventually got a twin room which involved 2 single beds being pushed together, which we soon separated! Then we dicided to eat the carvery at the hotel, which was dry and horrible. So not a great day all in all
Having checked the results from Saturdays match a venue regular fished the peg and only managed 65lb for 30th overall. So definately not fishing well at this end of the lake.
1st 156- 4 - Woody - p66 (pool 4)
2nd 133-12 - Mark Poppleton - p92 (pool 6)
3rd 127-12 - Andy Toplis - p22 (pool 1)
4th 123- 5 - Hathers - p83 (pool 5)
5th 119- 6 - SBW - p102 (pool 7)
6th 119- 3 - Ron Byus - p104 (pool 7)
Catch - 10 Carp, 12 Skimmers
Weather - Rainy start, cleared later, light winds
Match - MFS website - 38th out of 45 - 6th out of 7 section
Today was the first of a 2 dayer at the Glebe. I travelled up with Mark and we ended up having a pig of a journey with 3 lanes closed on the M42, we managed to get on the M6, but due to restricted access we had to go northbound and it then took 3 junctions before we could turn around and head back in the correct direction. Despite this it was still better than sitting in stationary traffic.
With the Angling Trust Masters next month I wanted to get some practice and today we had 45 anglers booked in over 5 lakes. I was just thankful to actually be fishing after pulling my back last weekend, but a rather intense osteopath session sorted me out. I also brought a Velcro strap belt to support my lower back and it really worked.
I found myself on peg 29 on pool 1 which was at the far end of the pool, one peg from the end. Reports suggested I was at the wrong end of the lake, with most of the recent weights coming from around peg 8. Steve on peg 30 said he struggled from the same peg a few weeks ago. Although there was no ripple in our part of the lake there was a few fish moving around on the surface, so I was actually quite hopeful of a good day, plus I had a spare peg to my left.
On the all in, I swung out the mugging rig with 8mm pellet and I had a 8lber straight away - perhaps I was going to have a good day after all. This was followed by a smaller carp 10mins later, but all the surface fish soon disappeared.
I had cupped in sweetcorn and hemp at 6m, as well as 13m. The 6m line produced a small carp, but the 13m had failed and with 90mins already gone I only had 3 carp.
A few skimmers had started to show over my 6m line by continually feeding corn and hemp, switching to just corn later, but they were coming too slowly and any carp I caught on the deck were only small.
Since the 13m line failed to produce I started to catapult 6s, switching to 8s later to try and catch shallow, but neither had the desired effect and with half the match gone I still only 3 carp, plus a few more skimmers from my 6m line.
I had brought some caster with me, but as yet hadn't fed any, mainly because I hoped to catch properly on pellet and keep my caster (by freezing them) for the more important matches at the Glebe, but it was frustrating that I couldn't catch so started to feed the caster over the 13m line. This would also show the difference between caster and pellet.
Well the caster certainly pulled a few fish in, but with no ripple as soon as I shipped out the pole, the carp would shy away and all I could catch was skimmers and a couple small carp. After an hour of this I was getting more frustrated, so I got off my box and set up a waggler to chase the carp. 1st cast I almost had the rod pulled out of hand, unfortunately the next carp didn't come quite as quickly. In fact I had to work really hard to get a bite, continually changing the depth of the waggler.
Going into the last hour Steve on p30 had stopped catching altogether, whilst I kept picking up the odd fish, including 2 carp in the last 10mins shallow on the pole. I thought it would be close between Steve and myself, but due to bankside vegetation I couldn't really see down the lake. As it happened, Steve weighed 49lb for last, whilst my 53lb was 2nd to last in the section, whilst the weights just got better the further down the lake you went. Today was a genuine case of drawing poorly, which was disappointing having travelled all that distance.
So onto our overnight accommodation which Mark booked. Image our surprise when we entered the room to see a double bed! Today just keeps on giving! Mark eventually got a twin room which involved 2 single beds being pushed together, which we soon separated! Then we dicided to eat the carvery at the hotel, which was dry and horrible. So not a great day all in all
Having checked the results from Saturdays match a venue regular fished the peg and only managed 65lb for 30th overall. So definately not fishing well at this end of the lake.
1st 156- 4 - Woody - p66 (pool 4)
2nd 133-12 - Mark Poppleton - p92 (pool 6)
3rd 127-12 - Andy Toplis - p22 (pool 1)
4th 123- 5 - Hathers - p83 (pool 5)
5th 119- 6 - SBW - p102 (pool 7)
6th 119- 3 - Ron Byus - p104 (pool 7)
Sunday, August 21, 2011
20/08/11 - Glebe - Mallory Park
Weight – 8lb 2oz
Catch – 13 Perch, 5 Roach, 1 Skimmer, 1 Gudgeon
Weather – Windy, sunny start, drizzle later, before the sun returned
Match – Angling Trust Masters
Writing this blog the day after the match and I have just received a text from Mark making sure I haven’t topped myself! In all seriousness though I had a nightmare of a match.
I’ve been looking forward to today for a while, confident with our plan of attack and just needed a draw. There were 16 teams of 6, including Drennan Team England, Guru, Shakespeare, Bag ‘Em, spread across the whole of the Glebe complex, including Foundation Lake and Mallory Parks Big Lake.
Mark & I travelled up the night before so we can be fresh for the morning, staying overnight at a Premier Inn, unfortunately Marks snoring made sure I didn’t get much sleep and I needed a couple of red bulls!
At the draw, the 1 lake no-one wanted was Mallory Park’s Big Lake, since it is in the middle of the race track and there was going to be a motorcycle track day, which meant it was going to be noisy. The other issue was the Big Lake isn’t fished that often, even by the Glebe club members, so getting up to date information was difficult.
Unfortunately I found myself on the Big Lake and I couldn’t work out the pegging. I was 6th in a line of 8 pegs, before there was a gap of 3 before the next 3, which left every other peg in on the far side and loads of space. From what little information I gleaned the stocking density was similar to pool 1, i.e. loads of carp, that can be caught short as well as on the feeder (although speaking to Roy Marlow he said everything worked – so not very helpful), plus a match last week the lowest weight was 74lb.
Mark & I had discussed on the drive up that if we drew the Big Lake that we would still fish caster, initially starting on the deck and go from there, aiming to catch shallow. However, when I arrived at my peg there was a strong south westerly breeze blowing at me left to right, which meant fishing caster shallow wasn’t practical, plus fishing longer than 11m was difficult.
The only issue I had was I lost my bag of feeders, although I found some method feeders (which are banned) and 1 cage feeder, however I decided against using the feeder, settling to fish the margins, 11m with caster and pellet waggler/lead at 30m (I couldn’t feed any longer due to the wind).
Since as the word states, this is a big open lake and with the wind i needed a 0.8g float in the 4ft deep swim to hold bottom in the tow. On the all in I dumped a full cup of caster, with a pinch of hemp and corn. I was soon into fish, but they were mainly perch and I kept potting bait every 10mins or so in an effort to pull in the carp that were supposed to come short. By the half way stage was I falling behind those around me, simply because I couldn’t get a carp on any method.
I had been feeding 8mm continually, but a look on the pellet waggler (set at 2 different depths) and the lead proven fruitless. From what I could see I was the only 1 without a carp. I could have stuck with fishing at 11m but catching silvers wasn’t going to do me any favours. I kept feeding the 11mm line heavily, as well feeding the 30m line hoping the carp would turn up. I also started feeding my margins again heavily with caster, hemp & corn.
By the end of the match, I had feed 10pts of caster, 9pts of 8mm, 2pts of hemp and 2 large tins of corn, but those carp simply didn’t come in. With all the 8mm I had fed at 30m I would have expected some carp to have turned up late, but other than 2 carp that I pulled out of one of which was at the net, very little showed. The anglers either side had 20 & 25lb, whilst the winner Paul Yates (Team England) from the end peg with 90lb and 2nd was Phil Ringer (Guru) from the far side.
A good indication that there were no carp in the area was a Grebe than stayed in an around my swim all day, popping up with roach in its mouth most times it surfaced.
As a team we finished a creditable 6th with Mark winning his section, finishing 2nd overall with 159lb from pool 4, fishing caster shallow, Nick Merry won his section from pool 7, fishing caster shallow, whilst Tim Shuttle was 3rd from pool 2.
I’m gutted to have done so badly. In hindsight today caster wasn’t the right approach for this lake due to the high number of silvers and I would have been better off fishing the feeder. Having said that I had hoped to pull in some carp with the amount of food that I fed and as for catching short, no one did.
Can’t wait for the next match to get this 1 out of my system.
Catch – 13 Perch, 5 Roach, 1 Skimmer, 1 Gudgeon
Weather – Windy, sunny start, drizzle later, before the sun returned
Match – Angling Trust Masters
Writing this blog the day after the match and I have just received a text from Mark making sure I haven’t topped myself! In all seriousness though I had a nightmare of a match.
I’ve been looking forward to today for a while, confident with our plan of attack and just needed a draw. There were 16 teams of 6, including Drennan Team England, Guru, Shakespeare, Bag ‘Em, spread across the whole of the Glebe complex, including Foundation Lake and Mallory Parks Big Lake.
Mark & I travelled up the night before so we can be fresh for the morning, staying overnight at a Premier Inn, unfortunately Marks snoring made sure I didn’t get much sleep and I needed a couple of red bulls!
At the draw, the 1 lake no-one wanted was Mallory Park’s Big Lake, since it is in the middle of the race track and there was going to be a motorcycle track day, which meant it was going to be noisy. The other issue was the Big Lake isn’t fished that often, even by the Glebe club members, so getting up to date information was difficult.
Unfortunately I found myself on the Big Lake and I couldn’t work out the pegging. I was 6th in a line of 8 pegs, before there was a gap of 3 before the next 3, which left every other peg in on the far side and loads of space. From what little information I gleaned the stocking density was similar to pool 1, i.e. loads of carp, that can be caught short as well as on the feeder (although speaking to Roy Marlow he said everything worked – so not very helpful), plus a match last week the lowest weight was 74lb.
Mark & I had discussed on the drive up that if we drew the Big Lake that we would still fish caster, initially starting on the deck and go from there, aiming to catch shallow. However, when I arrived at my peg there was a strong south westerly breeze blowing at me left to right, which meant fishing caster shallow wasn’t practical, plus fishing longer than 11m was difficult.
The only issue I had was I lost my bag of feeders, although I found some method feeders (which are banned) and 1 cage feeder, however I decided against using the feeder, settling to fish the margins, 11m with caster and pellet waggler/lead at 30m (I couldn’t feed any longer due to the wind).
Since as the word states, this is a big open lake and with the wind i needed a 0.8g float in the 4ft deep swim to hold bottom in the tow. On the all in I dumped a full cup of caster, with a pinch of hemp and corn. I was soon into fish, but they were mainly perch and I kept potting bait every 10mins or so in an effort to pull in the carp that were supposed to come short. By the half way stage was I falling behind those around me, simply because I couldn’t get a carp on any method.
I had been feeding 8mm continually, but a look on the pellet waggler (set at 2 different depths) and the lead proven fruitless. From what I could see I was the only 1 without a carp. I could have stuck with fishing at 11m but catching silvers wasn’t going to do me any favours. I kept feeding the 11mm line heavily, as well feeding the 30m line hoping the carp would turn up. I also started feeding my margins again heavily with caster, hemp & corn.
By the end of the match, I had feed 10pts of caster, 9pts of 8mm, 2pts of hemp and 2 large tins of corn, but those carp simply didn’t come in. With all the 8mm I had fed at 30m I would have expected some carp to have turned up late, but other than 2 carp that I pulled out of one of which was at the net, very little showed. The anglers either side had 20 & 25lb, whilst the winner Paul Yates (Team England) from the end peg with 90lb and 2nd was Phil Ringer (Guru) from the far side.
A good indication that there were no carp in the area was a Grebe than stayed in an around my swim all day, popping up with roach in its mouth most times it surfaced.
As a team we finished a creditable 6th with Mark winning his section, finishing 2nd overall with 159lb from pool 4, fishing caster shallow, Nick Merry won his section from pool 7, fishing caster shallow, whilst Tim Shuttle was 3rd from pool 2.
I’m gutted to have done so badly. In hindsight today caster wasn’t the right approach for this lake due to the high number of silvers and I would have been better off fishing the feeder. Having said that I had hoped to pull in some carp with the amount of food that I fed and as for catching short, no one did.
Can’t wait for the next match to get this 1 out of my system.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
27/07/11 - Glebe - pool 1
Weight – 111lb 4oz
Catch – 25 Carp
Weather – Mostly sunny and light breeze
Match – MFS Float only – 7th out of 16
24hrs before this match it was fully booked with 20 anglers. However, on Monday 1 dropped out due to a bad back and the other because the first was his lift. Mark was unable to fill the spaces, so 18 for the match. Uh no, after managing to track down 1 non attendee who forgot!! The 4th drop out however with the best (and genuine?) excuse. 5 miles from the fishery he had a car accident…. with a police car – ouch!
With a north/north easterly breeze, I really fancied a draw in the middle of the lake, since there was more likely to be ripple on the water. I was last to draw, with only 18 & 26 left in the bucket, I really wanted Herbie to draw 26, but he didn’t, which meant I was on 26 for 2nd time.
Whilst setting up I was concerned about the flat calm condition, with the ripple starting in front of Nick Merry on p24. As for p18 it looked spot on and I was a touch envious.
Today was all about keeping it simple concentrating on catching shallow, feeding caster. Unfortunately the day was anything but simple. As well as 2 shallow rigs, 2 rigs to fish the 5m line (1x paste and 1x corn) and 1x paste margin rig were set up. I really didn’t fancy the margin today, because the water looked a touch clearer than last time. I did give it a few minutes, but was soon binned. The 5m also failed to produce, so all fish came shallow at 13-14m.
The opening 2 hours was a case finding something that worked. There was plenty of fish coming to the feed, but getting them to take the bait was turning into a mare. I tried various shallow rigs, from only a couple inches to 2ft. I was thankful I brought my pellet waggler rod and fished a loaded puddle chucker, finding it best to fish with a 12” hooklength with 3 or 4 floating maggot to create a really slow fall. In the flat conditions the waggler definitely seemed to be best.
The 1 thing I will say about the Glebe carp is they are fit. I’ve never come across fish that run so hard, I had 1 that managed to straighten a B960 and Mark had a couple straighten a carp feeder hook.
After 3 hours I had 15 fish and after the initial slow start was pleased with my progress, but the following 3 hours became difficult again. The main issue was the Puddle Chucker floats I was using. I had 2 were the clear plastic body popped off the loaded weight attached to the line. The 3rd puddle chucker used had a longer body and wasn’t right for the job. I also went through a period where I lost a few fish, which didn’t improve my mood.
I was disappointed to finish with only 25 fish, but surprised to weigh over a ton. Mark drew the end peg 30, but also had the same problem catching shallow, but his 29 fish weighed 163-0, included 50lb from the margin so obviously some bigger stamp fish.
Nick won from p24, mostly shallow taking advantage of the ripple. As for peg 18, Herbie weighed 111-8 pipping me to the section money by 4oz – gutted!
This was the 6th match in as many days on the lake and the weights still remained impressive and with a more favourable wind, I’m sure there would have some bigger weights.
Immediately after the match I was pretty p****d off, not only because I missed out on a pick up by 4oz, but I knew hadn’t my waggler’s failed I would have caught more. Now is the next day and putting everything in perspective that’s 2 visits to the Glebe and 2 tons, whilst I was disappointed, I was unlucky not to have the ripple and I know I would have caught more. So despite the difficult condition, I think the method was right. Ben on peg 28 fished the pellet waggler, as well as fishing on the deck, but struggled for 51lb.
1st 198-12 – Nick Merry – peg 24
2nd 163- 0 – Mark Poppleton – peg 30
3rd 159- 4 – Holwell – peg 1
3rd 159- 4 – Pete Bailey – peg 4
5th 113- 8 – Tim Suttle – peg 14
6th 111- 8 – Herbie – peg 18
7th 111- 4 – Ken Rayner – peg 26
8th 107- 0 – Clive Pritchard – peg 20
Catch – 25 Carp
Weather – Mostly sunny and light breeze
Match – MFS Float only – 7th out of 16
24hrs before this match it was fully booked with 20 anglers. However, on Monday 1 dropped out due to a bad back and the other because the first was his lift. Mark was unable to fill the spaces, so 18 for the match. Uh no, after managing to track down 1 non attendee who forgot!! The 4th drop out however with the best (and genuine?) excuse. 5 miles from the fishery he had a car accident…. with a police car – ouch!
With a north/north easterly breeze, I really fancied a draw in the middle of the lake, since there was more likely to be ripple on the water. I was last to draw, with only 18 & 26 left in the bucket, I really wanted Herbie to draw 26, but he didn’t, which meant I was on 26 for 2nd time.
Whilst setting up I was concerned about the flat calm condition, with the ripple starting in front of Nick Merry on p24. As for p18 it looked spot on and I was a touch envious.
Today was all about keeping it simple concentrating on catching shallow, feeding caster. Unfortunately the day was anything but simple. As well as 2 shallow rigs, 2 rigs to fish the 5m line (1x paste and 1x corn) and 1x paste margin rig were set up. I really didn’t fancy the margin today, because the water looked a touch clearer than last time. I did give it a few minutes, but was soon binned. The 5m also failed to produce, so all fish came shallow at 13-14m.
The opening 2 hours was a case finding something that worked. There was plenty of fish coming to the feed, but getting them to take the bait was turning into a mare. I tried various shallow rigs, from only a couple inches to 2ft. I was thankful I brought my pellet waggler rod and fished a loaded puddle chucker, finding it best to fish with a 12” hooklength with 3 or 4 floating maggot to create a really slow fall. In the flat conditions the waggler definitely seemed to be best.
The 1 thing I will say about the Glebe carp is they are fit. I’ve never come across fish that run so hard, I had 1 that managed to straighten a B960 and Mark had a couple straighten a carp feeder hook.
After 3 hours I had 15 fish and after the initial slow start was pleased with my progress, but the following 3 hours became difficult again. The main issue was the Puddle Chucker floats I was using. I had 2 were the clear plastic body popped off the loaded weight attached to the line. The 3rd puddle chucker used had a longer body and wasn’t right for the job. I also went through a period where I lost a few fish, which didn’t improve my mood.
I was disappointed to finish with only 25 fish, but surprised to weigh over a ton. Mark drew the end peg 30, but also had the same problem catching shallow, but his 29 fish weighed 163-0, included 50lb from the margin so obviously some bigger stamp fish.
Nick won from p24, mostly shallow taking advantage of the ripple. As for peg 18, Herbie weighed 111-8 pipping me to the section money by 4oz – gutted!
This was the 6th match in as many days on the lake and the weights still remained impressive and with a more favourable wind, I’m sure there would have some bigger weights.
Immediately after the match I was pretty p****d off, not only because I missed out on a pick up by 4oz, but I knew hadn’t my waggler’s failed I would have caught more. Now is the next day and putting everything in perspective that’s 2 visits to the Glebe and 2 tons, whilst I was disappointed, I was unlucky not to have the ripple and I know I would have caught more. So despite the difficult condition, I think the method was right. Ben on peg 28 fished the pellet waggler, as well as fishing on the deck, but struggled for 51lb.
1st 198-12 – Nick Merry – peg 24
2nd 163- 0 – Mark Poppleton – peg 30
3rd 159- 4 – Holwell – peg 1
3rd 159- 4 – Pete Bailey – peg 4
5th 113- 8 – Tim Suttle – peg 14
6th 111- 8 – Herbie – peg 18
7th 111- 4 – Ken Rayner – peg 26
8th 107- 0 – Clive Pritchard – peg 20
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
27/06/11 - Glebe - Pool 1
Weight – 129lb 4oz
Catch – 35 Carp, 8 Bream
Weather – Sunny, very windy, rain, cloudy, flat calm – take your pick!
Match – Match Fishing Scene Float Only – 5th out of 20 (3rd in section)
1st trip to the Glebe in Leicestershire, which is a club complex with 8 lakes as well as 2 other lakes at Mallory Park run by Roy Marlow. It’s a really well established and well looked after fishery and today’s match was on Pool 1, which is the biggest lake on the complex with 30 well spaced pegs on a boomerang spaced lake.
This MFS match attracted anglers from all over the country, as well as a few locals, most of whom had fished here before . It was certainly an expensive day, particularly with fuel prices, however I was awake early and Mark picked me up at 5am reaching Nuneaton just after 7 for breakfast.
Today will be the first of 3 visits this summer with another float only next month and the Angling Trust Masters in August, so I was largely guided by Mark about the best approach and he has had a lot of success fishing caster. So 30pts were ordered from Tony to be split between 3 of us, plus I had another 4pts frozen. Several tins of corn and bags of 6mm pellet completed the bait list, plus I some worms left over from a few weeks ago.
After an initial walk round the way the wind was blowing, we both fancied either end, although around pegs 15-17 can be flyers and I found myself on peg 26, with Mark on 27. With 20 pegs in we all had plenty of space, split into 2 sections. I certainly had a challenge on today. As well as Mark, Pete Bailey was in my section as well as the end peg 30 which won yesterday’s match with 200lb.
Obviously with 14pts of caster tactics for the day would be shallow at 13m with 3 or 4 red maggots on a 16 B911. I also set up a line at 5m feeding pellet & corn, as well down the margin, under a bush which obscured my view of the rest the lake to my left and I only had 3 anglers to my right.
When the match started there was a gentle breeze, which soon got stronger. In the 1st hour I had 5 carp and already got though 3pts of caster! Moving into the 2nd & 3rd hour was a struggle, yet Mark kept catching. At the time I really couldn’t understand why. However on reflection, because I was in danger of going through my caster too quickly, I had cut back on the feed, plus the wind was becoming increasingly strong, making it difficult to feed. Also I should have used a heavier float to provide a bit more stability. So after 3hrs I had about 40lb.
I periodically tried the 5m line, which produced silly bites on corn from what turned out to be skimmers. Whilst on this line I upped my caster feed and started to get more swirls so the fish had returned. I then remembered I still had some worm so started using worm heads and tails, with the fish preferring the tails, probably because they wriggled more.
The next 3hrs was far better, alternating between worm and maggot. The wind dropped and in the last 2hrs I probably just beat Mark, but he had too bigger lead to overtake. However, the end peg only had 3 fish in the last hour, whilst I put in 40-50lb including my biggest fish of 9lb, beating the end peg by 20lb.
The 5m line didn’t really produce and I had 1 roach from the margin which dropped off. In the end had a really enjoyable days fishing, certainly learnt a few things about the venue and have a clearer understanding of what I need to do for next time.
I got beaten in my section by Pete Baily and Mark, which is nothing to be ashamed about. My section was 1st to be weighed and for a while it looked like I would be 3rd overall since no one was admitting to more, however pegs 6 & 8 both beat me so I ended up picking up the section by default.
1st 194- 5 Pete Bailey – p23
2nd 168- 5 Mark Poppleton – p27
3rd 153- 1 Bob P – p6
4th 141- 6 Tim Suttle – p8
5th 129- 4 Ken Rayner – p26
6th 118-10 Nick Merry – p20
Catch – 35 Carp, 8 Bream
Weather – Sunny, very windy, rain, cloudy, flat calm – take your pick!
Match – Match Fishing Scene Float Only – 5th out of 20 (3rd in section)
1st trip to the Glebe in Leicestershire, which is a club complex with 8 lakes as well as 2 other lakes at Mallory Park run by Roy Marlow. It’s a really well established and well looked after fishery and today’s match was on Pool 1, which is the biggest lake on the complex with 30 well spaced pegs on a boomerang spaced lake.
This MFS match attracted anglers from all over the country, as well as a few locals, most of whom had fished here before . It was certainly an expensive day, particularly with fuel prices, however I was awake early and Mark picked me up at 5am reaching Nuneaton just after 7 for breakfast.
Today will be the first of 3 visits this summer with another float only next month and the Angling Trust Masters in August, so I was largely guided by Mark about the best approach and he has had a lot of success fishing caster. So 30pts were ordered from Tony to be split between 3 of us, plus I had another 4pts frozen. Several tins of corn and bags of 6mm pellet completed the bait list, plus I some worms left over from a few weeks ago.
After an initial walk round the way the wind was blowing, we both fancied either end, although around pegs 15-17 can be flyers and I found myself on peg 26, with Mark on 27. With 20 pegs in we all had plenty of space, split into 2 sections. I certainly had a challenge on today. As well as Mark, Pete Bailey was in my section as well as the end peg 30 which won yesterday’s match with 200lb.
Obviously with 14pts of caster tactics for the day would be shallow at 13m with 3 or 4 red maggots on a 16 B911. I also set up a line at 5m feeding pellet & corn, as well down the margin, under a bush which obscured my view of the rest the lake to my left and I only had 3 anglers to my right.
When the match started there was a gentle breeze, which soon got stronger. In the 1st hour I had 5 carp and already got though 3pts of caster! Moving into the 2nd & 3rd hour was a struggle, yet Mark kept catching. At the time I really couldn’t understand why. However on reflection, because I was in danger of going through my caster too quickly, I had cut back on the feed, plus the wind was becoming increasingly strong, making it difficult to feed. Also I should have used a heavier float to provide a bit more stability. So after 3hrs I had about 40lb.
I periodically tried the 5m line, which produced silly bites on corn from what turned out to be skimmers. Whilst on this line I upped my caster feed and started to get more swirls so the fish had returned. I then remembered I still had some worm so started using worm heads and tails, with the fish preferring the tails, probably because they wriggled more.
The next 3hrs was far better, alternating between worm and maggot. The wind dropped and in the last 2hrs I probably just beat Mark, but he had too bigger lead to overtake. However, the end peg only had 3 fish in the last hour, whilst I put in 40-50lb including my biggest fish of 9lb, beating the end peg by 20lb.
The 5m line didn’t really produce and I had 1 roach from the margin which dropped off. In the end had a really enjoyable days fishing, certainly learnt a few things about the venue and have a clearer understanding of what I need to do for next time.
I got beaten in my section by Pete Baily and Mark, which is nothing to be ashamed about. My section was 1st to be weighed and for a while it looked like I would be 3rd overall since no one was admitting to more, however pegs 6 & 8 both beat me so I ended up picking up the section by default.
1st 194- 5 Pete Bailey – p23
2nd 168- 5 Mark Poppleton – p27
3rd 153- 1 Bob P – p6
4th 141- 6 Tim Suttle – p8
5th 129- 4 Ken Rayner – p26
6th 118-10 Nick Merry – p20
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